This Omni Talk Retail Fast Five segment, sponsored by the A&M Consumer and Retail Group, Mirakl, Ocampo Capital, Infios, Quorso, and Veloq, breaks down OpenAI’s move to begin testing ads on ChatGPT... a major shift in how AI-powered search may monetize.

Live from FMI, Chris Walton and Anne Mezzenga debate whether users will care about ads at all, why UI and buying friction matter more than privacy fears, and what this signals about the escalating battle between OpenAI and Google. They also explore how brands may respond as AI-driven searches continue to convert at higher rates.

⏩ Tune in for the full episode here.

#ChatGPT #AIAdvertising #RetailMedia #SearchWars #AgenticCommerce #OmniTalk #FMI2026

Say it isn't so, Chris, but ChatGPT actually has announced they are beginning to test ads.

According to Marketing Dive, the ads will appear for logged in users on ChatGPT's free level as well as on ChatGPT Go, an $8 per month option that has been available in some markets and is now rolling out to the US and other areas.

ChatGPT's Plus Pro business and enterprise subscription levels will not carry ads or OpenAI said that it would implement several protections to assure users that the information they reveal would not be shared with advertisers, and that what ChatGPT provides would be driven by what's objectively useful rather than advertising.

Wow, man.

I keep getting all these and I put you on the spot questions right up front at the show when it's like 7:30am in the morning here in San Diego at the Gaylord Pacific Resort and Hotel with the worst coffee in the world.

But with that said, I think my answer to that question is I'm actually not at all concerned with what the article says about people worrying about like, you know, them being served up ads.

I mean, do people really care about that?

I mean, I'm served up advertising all the time.

I'm walking up the escalator here at the conference and there's ads for Coca Cola.

So like, I'm used to that.

So I think that's just a bunch of malarkey.

I think the big question is what is, what is the UI here?

You know, like what is the user interface?

How much do people like it?

Does it get people to product?

And then what happens when people click on the product and how easy is it to buy and all that kind of thing.

That's.

That's going to be where the rubber meets the road in terms of the search engine battle here for what we're talking about.

But I think the more important angle to this story is kind of what Chad alludes to in his question, which is this happened a lot quicker than I think even Mr. Lusk.

You know, in the year end show predicted and for that reason it reeks of desperation to me.

I don't understand why you'd muddy the water so much when you have a product that people are so happy using right now.

And the answer, I don't know is the answer.

Money.

Everything in life always comes down to money, doesn't it?

And so like it could be the trillion dollars that, you know, ChatGPT or OpenAI needs to make the investments necessary to remain competitive against Google.

That's probably what it is.

That's what the article postulates.

I probably agree with that, but.

But let's not forget too that there are still so many other use cases for generative AI and we haven't even touched on the agentic commerce side of this conversation yet.

So the battle is going to rage on.

But wow, it is really interesting to see OpenAI going to advertising this quickly.

I'm actually not that surprised.

I mean, I think when you saw Sam Altman put out a red alert when Google launched Gemini, their latest Gemini, a few months before the end of the year, a few weeks even before the end of the year, I think we all saw the writing on the wall and we knew they're burning cash and they need to figure out a way to make money.

And I don't actually have a problem with it, especially with how they're doing it based on the tiered subscriptions that you have.

I think as consumers we're used to this with, you know, everything from Hulu to Spotify to all our other subscription services.

I mean, you gotta pay if you want to get some value out of things and if you're not going to pay the full amount, then you're going to have ads like Google's likely going to continue to do this as well.

Um, they are working hard to make sure that they're, you know, securely and without divulging any information about the consumers allegedly here they are making sure that they're giving me personalized ads.

And I just, I don't think it's going to be as big of a deal as, you know, the media.

And I think that people are making it out to be.

Yes, it was started in one way and we thought it was going to continue as the Internet for all or, you know, this, this platform that was meant to do good, but at the end of the day it is about money and pay for what the real value is for the service that you're getting.

And this is a way to do that.

So I think this is not at all surprising to me.

Chad's Prediction was right on and, and yeah, I think, I think we'll continue to see people use the platform and really not, not be bothered by this or just come to expect it.

So if you go back to a question though, like what, what would you be most focused on in terms of seeing how things play out with, you know, ad testing on Chat gbt?

What are you most, what are you most curious to see how they do or what they do or what the implications are, long run?

I guess I'm curious to see what, what customer engagement is and if they actually see value from it because I think they might.

I mean, I think getting a sponsored ad when you're at the product, it's kind of the equivalent to me of, of like a shelf talker on a, on a shelf, you know, when you're looking at 15 different cans of soup and which one you're going to buy.

If I, if I'm looking at the same product and my search is across the board, but there's a $5 off thing for the Walmart.

If I buy the product at Walmart, I'm going to buy it there because I don't care where I'm getting that product from once I've determined what the product is.

So I'm actually curious to see what, what volume they get and what kind of engagement they get with, with some of these personalized ads.

Right, that makes sense.

So you were very big on Google's announcement last week.

Do you think this scares Google at all to any greater degree?

Are you still pretty bullish on Google, relatively speaking, given that, you know, Chat GPT?

I still think, I still think Google's the.

I, I still think Google's in a, in a good position here.

This helps.

But Google's been using funds for that.

They've, Google's been doing this forever, search forever.

So I don't think that this really challenges them.

It might keep Chat GPT afloat for a little bit longer as a stronger competitor, but I don't, I wouldn't be that concerned about it if I'm Google.

I think ChatGPT and OpenAI are really the ones that are trying to make up ground here.

Yeah.

The only other thing I can think about too is like the brand side of this.

You know, we're at the FMI conference and we know that these searches convert higher.

Right.

We've been seeing that throughout the data over the last six months.

So my question would be too, like, how do the brands respond to this?

And do they, I bet they jump into this with chat GPT to see if they can convert higher.

But again, it's going to depend on the ultimate user experience and where those products land on on those recommendations.

So wow, Fascinating topic.