While Claude used its Super Bowl ad to point out that AI conversations aren’t the right place for ads, ChatGPT launched its first ads the very next day.
We’re not here to tell you which AI giant is right about where ads do and don’t belong. However, it is our job to keep you up to date on how a new advertising platform like ChatGPT could affect your digital strategy.
OpenAI is currently testing ChatGPT ads using hand-picked advertisers with very deep pockets—not exactly the type of company we work with. For now, we’re just keeping an eye on ChatGPT ads. But as user behavior shifts away from traditional search and toward conversational AI, how SMBs (like our clients) show up online will likely need to change too.
3 Things to Know About ChatGPT Ads Right Now
Change is the only constant.
ChatGPT is introducing advertising for the very first time on a platform that’s still pretty new. We expect how ads work to change over time (from both the user’s and advertiser’s perspective).
OpenAI has already changed its mind about when and where ads will show, with CEO Sam Altman saying less than two years ago that ads were a “last resort” and pausing ad infrastructure development as late as December 2025 to focus on improving the AI itself.
KPIs will shift.
AI engines don’t drive as many clicks to brands’ websites as traditional search, so it makes sense that ChatGPT ads will be charged by impression, rather than click.
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This makes ChatGPT ads fundamentally different from Google’s search ads, which we pay for based on clicks. ChatGPT also offers advertisers much less visibility into performance, with Search Engine Land’s Anu Adegbola reporting, “Despite the cost, advertisers will receive only high-level reporting, such as total impressions or clicks, with no insight into downstream actions like purchases.”
For some businesses, this focus on brand awareness over conversions is fine. But for organizations that demand measurable, immediately valuable outcomes from digital advertising, ChatGPT may disappoint.
This approach is not surprising given ChatGPT’s desire to answer queries so completely that no one needs to leave the platform. By nature, AI engines are helpful, rather than promotional. It does contrast with Google’s current approach, which uses existing Google Ads search ad infrastructure to insert ads within AI Overviews.
Targeting is complex.
ChatGPT ads will target users based on “conversation topics, past chats, and prior ad interactions,” which feels like a natural extension of Google Ads’ shift toward broad match, AI Max and Performance Max technologies. ChatGPT users can turn off personalization, in which case ads will only be based on the current conversation.
Advertisers won’t be able to see these chats, which makes sense for privacy reasons. It will limit our understanding of why an ad showed and what information appeared around it.
For now, ads will display in Free and Go plans. This could affect whether or not your target audience will see ChatGPT ads. For example, Parkway uses a Business plan, so we won’t see ads at work. The types of businesses that might want to appear in our work-related chats, like marketing SaaS platforms, won’t be able to reach us with ChatGPT ads.
Businesses in regulated industries or with a low tolerance for brand safety issues likely have good reason to be cautious about ChatGPT ads. OpenAI does seem aware of this to some degree; ads won’t show on chats about “sensitive or regulated topics” like mental health and politics—yet.
