We told you last Tuesday: OpenAI had sent a mass email to its users in Europe, explaining that advertising in ChatGPT would arrive “starting at the end of the month.” Now, in a post on its blog, Sam Altman’s company has been more specific and confirmed that GPT Ads will begin rolling out in our market next Monday, August 24.
This is a significant change in how this popular tool works for the vast majority of its users (let us remember that only customers on the Plus, Pro, Enterprise, Business, and Education plans will be “spared”), so we would do well to get ahead of what is coming to avoid any unnecessary surprises.
Since these ads have already been live in the United States since February, I think we can get a fairly accurate idea of what to expect, although, as you will see, there are some quite relevant changes, both from the user perspective and for advertising brands.
One of the biggest letdowns in OpenAI’s announcement comes right in the very first paragraph: ChatGPT ads are arriving in Spain and 30 other European markets, but without the ad manager that it has been developing so intensely over the past few months in the United States. So if you are an advertiser, forget about having access to that long-awaited AI “Ad Manager.”
Here is how the company explains it: “At launch, ChatGPT Ads will be available through OpenAI’s Advertising Solutions team, partner advertising agencies, and technology partners. Self-service through the Ad Manager will arrive later this quarter. Marketers across Europe will now have new ways to reach people as they explore, compare, or make decisions.”
In other words, for now you will need to go through OpenAI’s sales team or one of its partners to run your campaigns.
If you remember, OpenAI began operating advertising in the United States with a CPM model. It later added CPC campaigns and, more recently, also introduced conversion-optimized oCPC campaigns. In the latter, the system tries to show ads to users who are more likely to complete a specific action (make a purchase, sign up, or generate a lead) after clicking.
By the way, in its documentation OpenAI currently recommends for CPC campaigns starting with a maximum bid of between $3 and $5 per click.
“Ads in ChatGPT are clearly labeled and separated from ChatGPT’s responses. Advertising does not influence the responses ChatGPT provides,” the announcement explains, adding that its goal is for “ads in ChatGPT to be useful for those decisions and effective for advertisers.”
All right, that sounds good, but what will they actually look like in practice?
Ads appear below ChatGPT’s responses. Each ad includes the advertiser’s name, logo, a headline or title, a description with a recommended length of 32 characters, and an image or creative asset.
Source: OpenAI
OpenAI says it has safeguards in place designed to prevent ads from appearing in user-sensitive contexts or in environments that are not brand-safe, according to its policies.
Oh, and remember that in this first phase ads will only appear in the Free and Go versions of ChatGPT. Ads also will not be shown to users under 18, based on account age information and OpenAI’s age estimation systems.
During this first phase, ads will not be personalized. Instead, they will be selected solely based on the topic of the ongoing conversation and basic contextual data such as the user’s location or device type.
In addition, OpenAI says it will not use chat history or memory to decide which ads to show. Later on, the company will ask users for explicit permission if they want to enable ad personalization, an option that can be turned on or off at any time in the privacy settings.
Sam Altman’s company says ads will not influence the responses generated by the AI and will be clearly differentiated from chat content. In addition, the company guarantees that personal data and conversations with ChatGPT will remain private and will not be shared with advertisers. “Advertisers do not have access to your chats, your chat history, your memories, or your personal data,” it clarifies, noting that brands will receive only general metrics such as total impressions or clicks.
Image: ChatGPT
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