The show is free. Like that of that street artist who makes a living in a square: he makes drawings, cartoons, juggles with fire or touches the violin up to a monocycle. No one is obliged to look. No one owes anything. But, in the end, almost always, the time comes: the hat in his hand, a picara smile, somewhat shy and the implicit question. Did you like it? If so, he collaborates for this and for that reason. Large technology companies have perfected this strategy for years: They give us free services while preparing the cap. And when you realize, you are already inside. You have paid, even if you don’t know how.
Generative artificial intelligences will not be an exception. Your cap will not be explicit, but effective. The question is no longer whether they will incorporate advertising. It is when. Because the free always has an explanation: if you do not pay with money, you are paying with data, with attention, with custom molded biases. As the famous phrase derived from an article by Andrew Lewis says in 2010: when something is free, the product is you. And now that millions of people have become accustomed to consulting AI as if it were a domestic oracle, to ask for drawings, recipes and advice, the platforms are calibrating how to monetize that collective faith without breaking the magic.
As the famous phrase derived from an article by Andrew Lewis says in 2010: when something is free, the product is you.
At the moment, the public speeches of those responsible for these companies still transmit modesty in this regard. A few months ago, as revealed by the Financial TimesSam Altman, CEO of OpenAI He expressed his preference for subscription models and mentioned that, although he does not rule out advertising, he is disturbing the combination of advertisements with artificial intelligence. In addition, in a talk in the Harvard Business Schoolhe described the ads as a last option for Openai, indicating that he does not like in general and that he prefers to explore other income paths before resorting to them. However, the hiring of digital advertising experts and some statements from other company managers question this conviction.
Goalfor its part, it has already begun to experiment with generative tools applied directly to advertising. The objective is clear: convert each text and each image into a gateway to consumption. Microsoft Go even further: in COPILOTthe ads are already part of the conversation. As in platforms such as Tiktokthe road seems to make ads that do not seem ads.
Google It also adds to this trend. Pichai sundarits CEO, has highlighted how the generative AI is transforming advertising, and allows advertisers to create more efficient and personalized campaigns. Another interesting proposal is to Perplexitywhich is growing in popularity because in each response the source of information always links. Your business idea is to distribute the benefits of your ads of your search engine with the websites from which the content is extracted when using your chatbot.
In this context, perhaps the real question is not whether IA will include advertising, but if you can resist doing it. Because such a powerful and expensive technology, like our street artist, is not maintained with applause. We will have to be prepared to see where the advertising impact comes this time. A good magician never reveals his tricks and sooner or later, the street artist approaches the public and begins to pass the cap.
