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ChatGPT now shows ads while it generates images for users

The visual ad format OpenAI announced a month ago is already showing up in ChatGPT: the ad appears while the image is being created and disappears once it's ready.

By MOBAEO Newsroom··1 min read

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Photo: Tima Miroshnichenko/Pexels

ChatGPT has started showing ads while it creates images at a user's request. When someone asks for an image, an ad appears under the heading "Here's an ad while we create your image." As soon as the image is ready, the ad disappears from the screen.

The format was spotted by Search Engine Roundtable, in a report published on November 10. Executive editor Barry Schwartz says he was able to reproduce the ad in ChatGPT, and he published a screenshot and a video of the format in action.

The move was expected. A month ago, OpenAI announced it would launch a "new visual ad format in ChatGPT," designed to serve advertising while images are being generated. According to the report, that format now appears to be live.

Who noticed it first

The tip came from Juozas Kaziukėnas, who flagged it to Schwartz in a post on X. "ChatGPT now shows ads while generating images," he wrote. "OpenAI announced this new format a month ago. I started seeing them today. My conversation had nothing to do with dogs or pet food."

According to the report, Kaziukėnas was also the one who spotted, the previous Friday, ChatGPT's new business hub and the updates to ChatGPT ads before they launched.

What it means for brand teams

ChatGPT gains another paid placement inside the conversation, one that fills the time users spend waiting for their image to be ready. In the case Kaziukėnas described, the ad was about dogs and pet food, a topic unrelated to what he was discussing with the tool. For anyone tracking their brand's presence in ChatGPT, ads now show up during image generation too.

Key questions

When does the ad appear in ChatGPT?

While ChatGPT generates an image the user asked for, under the heading "Here's an ad while we create your image." The ad disappears once the image is ready.

Had OpenAI already announced this format?

Yes. A month ago, OpenAI announced it would launch a new visual ad format in ChatGPT to serve advertising while images are being created.

Is the ad related to the topic of the conversation?

In the case reported by Juozas Kaziukėnas, no: the ad was about dogs and pet food, and his conversation had nothing to do with those topics.

Source: Search Engine Roundtable.

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