Google refuted AdWeek’s report that said the tech company is on track to introduce ads into its AI chatbot Gemini. This story is based on anonymous, ill-informed sources who are providing factually incorrect statements, Dan Taylor, vice president of global ads at Google, said in a Monday post on X. “There are no ads in the Gemini app, and there are no current plans to add them.
Earlier in the day, AdWeek had reported this in a post on X promoting a pay-walled story: “[Google] has been telling advertising clients in recent days that it is going to add commercials to its AI chatbot Gemini, according to agency buyers who’ve been concerned with these meetings.”
Google was experimenting with placing advertisements in AI chatbot conversations to safeguard its search ads business, according to reports in May.
Google was inserting ads into conversations with AI chatbots for startups iAsk and Liner, Bloomberg reported at the time, leading to a “new era of monetization” powered by AI. The latest example from 370 is not just creepy and disturbing but also in clear violation of Google’s advertising policies.
In the pilot, Google AI placed contextual ads in live chats between users and AI chatbots.
Meta announced in October that it plans to start mining individuals’ chats with its AI to personalize ads and content. The change will take effect on Dec. 16.
“Your news feed — like everyone’s — is built based on machine learning to personalize it for you, and you alone,” the company wrote in a blog post. “Like other personalized services, we let you customize the ads and content you see based on your activity,” it goes, “so that your experience is in your hands — not ours. Many people believe that their interactions will somehow make what they are looking at more relevant. Before long, AI interactions will be yet another signal that we use to improve people’s experience.”
In August, news emerged that Elon Musk was hiring companies to promote their brands through an X AI-based chatbot.
Musk said in a live conversation with advertisers streamed on the social media site that it would allow companies to pay for placement among Grok’s chatbot suggestions, according to a person who heard the conversation.
“If whatever it is you were going to do for the user involves solving a problem via Grok , then at that point advertising the specific solution would be optimal,” Musk said.
