As the year 2026 approaches, the world of artificial intelligence is evolving every day, opening up new possibilities through updates and integration of new ways to interact with chatbots.
Much attention this week, however, went to the advertising world of AI chatbots. It all started when ChatGPT subscribers paying $200 per month noticed “app suggestions” in their conversations.
Advertising is inevitable.
This statement sounds reassuring, but also contains the inevitable addition of “current plans”.
This is where Google’s ranking gets interesting. You could say that Gemini doesn’t do that today, and that’s true. You can insist that your chats will not be used for advertising purposes, and that is true.
But OpenAI has just shown the industry what happens when the business model faces the reality of massive computing costs and billion-dollar growth. At some point, something has to be done, even though business has slowed down so far.
AI assistants are quickly becoming the new place for app search, recommendations and discovery. This is exactly where advertising works well.
And while Gemini can hold its own for now, it’s hard to imagine a future where none of these platforms explore “suggestions” as part of the chat window, especially when one of the biggest players has already tested the waters.
In its current form, Gemini is easy to use, focused and pleasantly uninterrupted. But if this week has proven anything, it’s that the time of artificial intelligence-based advertising is upon us. OpenAI set the tone, users responded exactly as expected, and the rest of the industry is following closely.
The real question is whether Gemini will remain ad-free forever or simply bide its time. And after this week, nothing seems to be wrong anymore.