ChatGPT will show image ads while it draws your pictures

OpenAI will start testing image-based ads in ChatGPT in the US later this month. They'll appear while ChatGPT is generating a picture for you. Until now, ChatGPT ads have been text. These are its first ads built around images, and they come with a bigger set of tools that let advertisers check whether the ads work.

OpenAI says the ads will be clearly labeled and kept separate from the image you asked for. It also says they won't affect ChatGPT's answers. An ad can show a product, someone using it, or the experience it promises.

What you need to know

• It starts small. The test begins in the US with a first group of advertisers, and OpenAI hasn't said who they are.
• Who sees them. TechCrunch reports the ads are aimed at ChatGPT's free and low-cost tiers. OpenAI added ads to those tiers earlier this year and expanded them to India in August.
• Measurement is the bigger pitch. Advertisers can send in their own sales data through Hightouch, Tealium and LiveRamp. They can then check results with attribution firms, which track whether an ad led to a sale. The list includes AppsFlyer, Adjust, Branch and Kochava.
• Brand safety pilots. DoubleVerify (DV) and Integral Ad Science will test how OpenAI keeps ads out of sensitive chats, according to OpenAI and DoubleVerify. Neither company will see private conversations.
• The size of the audience. OpenAI says 1.2 billion people use ChatGPT every week.

The one hard number being shared needs a closer look. According to DoubleVerify, WeightWatchers paid 15.3% less per new customer on ChatGPT than its usual benchmark. DoubleVerify has a stake in that result: it launched a paid tool for measuring ChatGPT ads the same day. The result also covers a single advertiser, and the release doesn't say how long the measurement ran. A WeightWatchers growth executive called it an "encouraging early signal", and that's the right way to read it.

The gaps matter too. None of the material we reviewed gives ad prices, ad revenue or how many advertisers are buying. TechCrunch also notes that image ads could get in users' way, and could push casual users to pay for a plan just to avoid them.

Next, watch for which brands show up in the US test and whether OpenAI shares results that don't come from a vendor selling measurement tools. If an ad popped up while ChatGPT drew your picture, would you stay on the free tier or pay to get rid of it?