Why ChatGPT’s new ad strategy is the best thing that’s ever happened to Apple Intelligence

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Advanced artificial intelligence tools capable of generating everything from code to video may have groundbreaking technology at their helm, but their path to monetization doesn’t appear as innovative. While their increasingly expensive subscription model may have sufficed so far, hyper-personalized ads are creeping into AI responses to make companies some extra bucks.

On the other end of the spectrum is Apple, which has historically either bundled quality software with its hardware or charged for its services (either as a one-time fee or a monthly subscription), but never through ads. Apple Intelligence continues to follow the same philosophy, refraining from showing ads even in its AI tools available for free.

And despite any lingering issues with Apple Intelligence, the absence of ads is increasingly its biggest draw.

Over the past few months, ChatGPT has been leaning towards injecting ads into its platform. Recently, it detailed all the ways businesses can host and manage their ad campaigns within ChatGPT. It pointed out that ads would appear in a separate section with a prominent sponsored marker, rather than being disguised as a response. While that alleviates the earlier concerns around in-line ads that unsuspecting users could’ve mistaken for unendorsed recommendations, the bigger problem is that you will see ads even if you are paying $8 a month for the Go tier.

Google hasn’t officially said it plans to bring ads into Gemini yet. But given how closely Google follows the pricing trends in the AI industry (the cheaper $100 AI Ultra plan is an example ), OpenAI’s ad decision gives Google an incentive to follow suit. Google’s entire business is structured around advertising, and its track record doesn’t give me the benefit of the doubt.

We have seen ads appear across Google Search, so they aren’t new in principle, but considering how AI works and how openly we interact with it raises the stakes a lot higher. Search gets my random questions throughout the day, and Google guesses my likes and personality based on that, whereas I am more explicit with AI , giving it a lot more personal details firsthand, like health reports and shopping preferences.

Neither Google Search nor ChatGPT shares exactly what you search for with advertisers, nor do your personal chats. But all the user-profiling becomes scarier multi-fold with all the hyper-personal context used to serve you ads. It shatters the perception that you are not the product if you are paying for it. The only big tech company that appears to be preserving this notion is Apple.