Michał Stekla
AI in Advertising: The Era of Boring Banners is Coming to an End
Won't click? No problem. Now a chatbot will sell you a product before you even ask about it. Google is launching a new generation of ads that won’t appear beside the content – they will become the content. AI, instead of suggesting something objective, will slip a sponsored link, a product from an AdSense campaign, in front of you and explain why it’s worth clicking.
Sounds familiar? Yes, but now it happens not on Google’s page, but in your AI assistant.
Ads in AI? No longer "if," but "when"
Google is testing a new form of advertising through the AdSense for Search program, but not in the classic search engine – only in third-party chatbots. Partners? Including iAsk and Liner. Sponsored content appears in real-time during conversations with AI.
At the same time, the giant is developing two new search systems: AI Overviews and AI Mode – both heavily based on generative responses. You no longer receive a list of links. You get a personalized page with an answer, guiding questions, charts, maps, and… ads inserted between the words. It seems AI is advising you, yet it's selling.
Bot as a salesperson. And what next?
Experts warn: if companies do not separate objective information from advertising, users will stop trusting AI. Because a chatbot as an advisor is one thing, and a chatbot as a salesperson is another. And if everything is sponsored, how can you recognize what is "truth"?
Daniel M. McCarthy from the University of Maryland notes: advertisements spoil the user experience, but companies cannot forgo them – because maintaining large AI models is a significant cost.
According to WordStream, already 66% of searches on Google end without a click, and on phones – over 75%. It's a blow to AdSense. People are not visiting websites, not clicking on banners, they're just asking the bot. In Europe, over 41 million people are actively using ChatGPT monthly – and Poland is in the Top 5.
Google sees this and is panicking. Gemini (their own chatbot) is not yet catching up to ChatGPT, which has 84% of the market, but is eating a piece of its own cake. Every question to Gemini is one less to the traditional search engine. And every question without a click means... less money from ads.
Google has no choice. It must advertise in AI
As Ireneusz Piętowski from Brainwave says, Google cannot abandon its current model overnight – it is the foundation of its revenue and millions of businesses around the world. But it also cannot ignore the fact that people already prefer quick, convenient answers from a chat rather than painstakingly clicking through links. That’s why Google is moving advertisements to the very center of AI responses. And this is just the beginning. However, OpenAI has already hired people from advertising agencies. Microsoft is experimenting with advertisements in Copilot. Perplexity is testing sponsored follow-up questions. And no one is asking anymore whether this will catch on – only how quickly and how much it will change the internet.
Because if you don’t want to click on an ad, the ad will click on you.
AEO, not SEO. The New Art of Being Noticed
The future of online marketing is no longer just SEO (Search Engine Optimization), but AEO – Artificial Intelligence Optimization. That is: let the chatbot choose your page as a source. In other words: write text so that AI considers it "useful."
This will force a completely new approach from marketers. No more racing for keywords. What matters is what AI deems credible, complete, and useful. Otherwise – you'll be left behind.
Google has already announced the Personal Context mode – that is, AI that analyzes not only search history but even... your emails. In return, you'll receive hyper-personalized results and ads that hit the mark precisely. For advertisers, it's a dream. For users? For some – a nightmare.
And what if someone has had enough? Google – or perhaps OpenAI – will probably soon offer a subscription without ads. Because privacy will become a luxury good.
Bot as a salesperson. And what next?
Experts warn: if companies do not separate objective information from advertising, users will stop trusting AI. Because a chatbot as an advisor is one thing, and a chatbot as a salesperson is another. And if everything is sponsored, how can one recognize what is “the truth”?
Daniel M. McCarthy from the University of Maryland notes: advertising spoils the user experience, but companies cannot give it up – because maintaining large AI models is a significant cost.
The future? A chatbot that remembers what you are looking for. That knows when you are planning vacations, what shoes you like, and what you buy for the holidays. And which – quite “incidentally” – throws you offers, discounts, links to stores. Without clicking. Without choosing. Without asking.
Is this what we want? Not necessarily. But it is coming.
Source: Rzeczpospolita
