There had been much speculation that ChatGPT was going to introduce ads into its service, and it appears that Google Gemini has similar plans.
Google has told its advertising clients that it plans to launch ads in its Gemini AI platform, Adweek reports. In separate calls with with at least two advertising clients, Google ad reps reported that ad placements in Gemini are targeted for a 2026 rollout. The details on the formats, pricing and testing are still unclear. Google hasn’t yet shared prototypes or technical specifications with the advertisers whom the report quoted.
These developments would align with what OpenAI has been planning with ChatGPT. Last week, some internet users had claimed seeing indications in ChatGPT’s latest app that the company was poised to launch ads on the platform. After some users had mistaken suggestions to install plugins as ads, an OpenAI executive had come out and said that they hadn’t yet introduced ads.
But they hadn’t denied plans to introduce ads altogether, which suggested that ads are very much on the anvil for ChatGPT. Google too now seems to be poised to introduced ads. Google here would have a significant advantage over the competition in this regard — it already runs a massive advertising operation across Google search and YouTube, an ad exchange in AdX, and places ads across the internet through AdSense. It would likely be trivial for Google to sign up advertisers for this new platform, and especially one that’s seeing as much traction as Gemini.
And it’s high time that AI consumer-facing platforms introduced ads. AI queries are expensive to run, and ads could help subsidize them for companies, which could then use the earnings to invest ever-more-heavily in further improving AI models. Also, the introduction of ads could help raise usage limits for free users who often hit them and are forced to switch to other providers. And like with search and social media, ads could democratize AI and bring it to an ever-larger part of the world’s population. Companies will need to be thoughtful about how they introduce ads in AI chat, but it appears that the biggest names in the business already have some ideas, and are looking to implement them in the coming quarters.