As AI costs soar, chatbots edge closer to an ad-filled future

Many AI platforms will end up eventually adopting advertising. Pictured here is the Anthropic logo. — AFP pic

First Published: Thursday, 12 Nov 2026 9:00 PM MYT

LISBON, Nov 12 — Many AI platforms will end up eventually adopting advertising, the chief executive of the online advertising agency Criteo told AFP Tuesday, as investors are focused on whether the technology will ever be profitable.

“I believe that a lot of AI platforms will find their way to advertising models over time,” said the group’s chief executive Michael Komasinski on the sidelines of the Web Summit in Lisbon.

“Advertising is the most scalable business model in the world. It has paid for most of the large platforms that we all use and enjoy today, whether it’s Google, Meta, Snapchat.

“The ad formats will continue to become more interesting, more innovative, and certainly more native to that conversational experience,” he added.

Pressure to boost revenue to cover its colossal spending pushed OpenAI to begin testing advertising in ChatGPT in February in the United States for free and low-cost tier subscriptions.

It has subsequently begun to progressively roll out ads worldwide, in cooperation with Criteo.

OpenAI’s rival Anthropic, which is set to imminently go public with a stock listing, has said it doesn’t plan to integrate advertising in its AI tools due to data protection concerns as well as to protect the interests of its users.

Microsoft has used ads in its public version of Copilot AI since 2023.

Perplexity has experimented with ads in the United States since 2024.

Google is considering integrating ads in Gemini.

Developing AI models and rolling them out requires massive investments.

The rally in AI-related stocks that has buoyed markets this year was testament to investor confidence, but both equity and bond investors have recently grown more wary as inflation and high interest rates are making the endeavour even more expensive.

Criteo works with OpenAI in 89 countries to develop advertising campaigns on AI chatbots.

Komasinski said some 3,600 brands have trialled AI advertising campaigns and they have noted a modest increase in their spending on ChatGPT.

He remains sceptical about AI agents being able to autonomously make purchases.

“It’s actually really easy to order unimportant things, and things that are very important you would tend to not delegate to a bot,” he said. — AFP