ChatGPT starts showing in-chat ads, and users are not having it

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00:00ChatGPT starts showing in-chat ads and users are not having it.

00:05ChatGPT sparked a minor rebellion this week after a user spotted what looked suspiciously

00:09like an ad for the Peloton app, right in the middle of a completely unrelated conversation

00:14about an Elon Musk podcast.

00:16Cue panic, outrage, and the collective sound of paid subscribers asking,

00:21Why are we getting ads now?

00:23Hyperbolic co-founder Yuchin Jin shared a screenshot of ChatGPT, oddly suggesting he

00:28Connect the Peloton app, sparking widespread complaints from users about irrelevant app

00:33recommendations even for paid ProPlan subscribers.

00:37Cue the dystopian jokes and a few, I didn't pay $200 for this?

00:42OpenAI's Daniel McCauley eventually jumped into the conversation to put out the fire.

00:47No, he insisted, this was not an ad.

00:49There was no financial component.

00:51It was just ChatGPT trying poorly to surface an app as part of OpenAI's new app discovery

00:57experiments.

00:59McCauley admitted the suggestion was irrelevant and confusing, adding that the team was iterating

01:03on the experience.

01:05OpenAI later confirmed that this was all part of a broader test tied to its new app platform

01:10announced in October.

01:12XAI's app suggestions, meant to integrate seamlessly into conversations, sometimes appear irrelevant,

01:18like Peloton during unrelated discussions and feel like unwanted advertising with no option

01:24to disable them.

01:24And that poses a real problem for OpenAI's dream of becoming the new app store inside

01:29your chatbot.

01:31If users feel nagged, they may wander off to a less pushy competitor.

01:35For now, ChatGPT's app suggestions remain in pilot mode and unavailable in the EU, UK and

01:41Switzerland.

01:42But one thing's clear.

01:43If OpenAI wants users to embrace chatbot-powered apps, it'll need to make those suggestions feel

01:49helpful, not like product placement from an over-eager gym buddy.