These may not be exactly the ads you see on ChatGPT, at least according to OpenAI. Nick Turley, head of ChatGPT OpenAI, has cleared up the confusion surrounding potential ads appearing via an AI chatbot. IN post on XTurley said that “there are no live ad tests” and that “any screenshots you've seen are either not real or not ads.” The OpenAI CEO's explanation came after one more post from former xAI employee Benjamin De Kracker on the increasingly popular X, which featured a screenshot showing the ability to shop at Target as part of a ChatGPT conversation.
OpenAI Daniel McAuley responded to the post, claiming that this is not an advertisement, but rather an example application integration which the company announced in October. However, the company's chief scientist Mark Chen also responded to X that they “didn't live up to expectations” in this case, adding that “anything that looks like advertising should be handled with caution.”
“We've disabled these kinds of suggestions while improving model accuracy,” Chen wrote on X. “We're also looking into better controls so you can reduce or disable this feature if it doesn't help you.”
There is still a lot of uncertainty as to whether OpenAI will introduce advertising to ChatGPT, but in November someone detected code in the beta version of the ChatGPT Android app, which featured advertisements several times. Even in Turley's post refuting the inclusion of live advertising, the OpenAI executive added that “if we continue to use advertising, we will take a thoughtful approach.” Turley also said that “people trust ChatGPT, and everything we do will take that into account.”
