Will Ads Make You Rethink Your Relationship with ChatGPT?

With OpenAI announcing ads this week, we’re learning more about what the product will look like.

Unsurprisingly, it’s a feedback-based product. And many people have pointed out that ads will force OpenAI to manage its reputation even more carefully.

But that’s not the trust problem I think really matters.

Thanks to Facebook and Google, people are already comfortable with search and feed ads.

So on the surface, ads appear to be a natural extension for OpenAI.

The deeper issue is that OpenAI’s product format is conversational. The closer analogy isn’t search or feeds, it’s DMs and chats. It is called “ChatGPT.”

People ask ChatGPT things they’d never post publicly or even Google. I know that’s true for me. And ChatGPT increasingly relies on this context (e.g. memory, preferences, and personalization) to become a better digital companion.

Imagine a friend who knew everything about you and used it for their self-interest. That friendship wouldn’t last long, right?

Ads might make people re-evaluate their relationship with ChatGPT.

It’s also an open secret that OpenAI is moving further into an ambient, always-on experiences. Recent reporting even suggests an audio-based wearable is coming.

For some people, OpenAI ads may not feel very different from using Google or Facebook. But OpenAI’s conversational format (and especially audio wearables) move it in a direction where it requires higher trust to be effective.

The real question is whether people continue to overshare with ChatGPT when ads enter the conversation.

My bet: in the short term, ads scale and perform. In the long term, there’s a major privacy scandal waiting to happen.

What do you think?