OpenAI has unveiled a novel advertising format that will appear in the form of visual ads alongside images generated by ChatGPT. The ads will debut in the United States this month, marking an expansion of the company’s advertising suite to include more visual content. Initially, a select group of advertisers will test these ads, which will be clearly labeled to avoid influencing ChatGPT’s responses.

The move comes shortly after Meta launched its own AI advertising platform, Muse, aimed at capturing market share from leading chatbots like ChatGPT. OpenAI has already introduced ads to support its free and low-cost subscription tiers and recently expanded their reach to India. Now, the focus is on attracting online advertisers who can leverage more visual imagery to engage potential customers.

However, the integration of ads might disrupt user experience, potentially pushing more casual users towards paid subscriptions to avoid them. To address this, OpenAI is enhancing its measurement tools and partnering with various analytics firms to provide comprehensive insights on ad performance. Additionally, the company is collaborating with Haus, Measured, and WorkMagic to explore geo-based ad experiments.

In an effort to ensure brand suitability, OpenAI is working on brand suitability evaluation pilots with DoubleVerify and Integral Ad Science. These pilots aim to help advertisers understand the ChatGPT ads environment better, ultimately making the platform a viable ad-supported business.