Microsoft Bing's GPT-4 AI-powered chatbot is now flashing advertisements to some users, providing sponsored responses.
The Redmond-based software maker confirms that it has begun slipping a few ads to its AI chatbot tool. But, these promoted results are still in the experimental phase. So nothing is final just yet, at least for now.
Microsoft Bing's AI Chatbot Now Has Ads
As per a report by The Verge, Microsoft announced that the tech giant is now testing displaying ads on its popular Bing AI chatbot.
No less than the Corporate Vice President of Microsoft, Yusuf Mehdi, disclosed the experimentation of ads in a blog post. The tech exec reveals that they are "exploring placing ads in the chat experience."
Reuters reports that the renowned tech behemoth started tinkering with the idea with some advertising agencies last February. Microsoft discussed with them how the giant firm is planning to make money from its new AI chatbot tool.
The exclusive report further notes that the meeting between ad agencies and Microsoft included a demo of Bing Chat. Furthermore, the tech firm reportedly disclosed its plans to add sponsored links to the replies of the AI-powered tool.
More than a month since the meeting was reported, it looks like Microsoft was quick to pursue its plan.
The director of communication at Microsoft, Caitlin Roulston, confirmed to The Verge that it has started its rodeo in stuffing sponsored responses on the chatbot.
Roulston states that "yes, ads will show in the new Bing, specifically in chat (as they do in the traditional search results)."
How Bing AI Chatbot Displays Ads
Now that Microsoft has clearly started slipping ads on its GPT-4-powered tool, some are wondering what the sponsored results will actually look like.
Given that the giant firm is still testing out the promoted responses, it might only appear to some users. However, a Twitter user, who goes by the name Deedy, gave us a glimpse of what it may look like.
The sponsored reply shows up in a small "Ad" box, which provides a link to its users. It looks similar to how Bing or other search engines like Google display ads on the search results.
Bing Chat now has Ads!
— Deedy (@deedydas) March 29, 2023
It's going to be fascinating to see how the unit economics of Ads in language models will unfold and affect search advertising.
1/3 pic.twitter.com/o5YjRjikOP
Tech Crunch notes in its story that the ads only appear to a select number of users. On their part, the promoted responses were nowhere to be found.
Bing Chat
It is worth noting that the GPT-4 AI-powered chatbot of Microsoft Bing is still in its preview phase.
Initially, the chat tool required users to join its waitlist, allowing only select users to get their hands on it. But this time, the tech giant has opened up its access to more folks.
