The natural evolution of AI business models is inevitably reaching its next commercial stage, as it became clear that OpenAI is expanding its ChatGPT advertising strategy with the introduction of an entirely new format. After the initial text sponsored blocks that appeared for users of the free and basic plans earlier this year, the company is now betting on visual ads to monetize its mass audience.
Initial tests of the new format will focus on one of the platform's most popular functionalities - image generation. While the software processes the user's request and the loading indicator appears on the screen, the interface will display clear and separate ad frames or product thumbnails. The company categorically emphasizes that the advertising content will be properly labeled and will not in any way affect the text responses or the creative results generated.
This move reflects the tech giant's pragmatic desire to provide stable revenues to cover the large-scale infrastructure costs and the maintenance of the hundreds of millions of users of the free tier. Although the advertising approach on digital platforms always causes mixed reactions among users, such steps show that artificial intelligence is becoming an independent and full-fledged media ecosystem.