Brands have found a way to infiltrate every space on the Internet to flash their ads, and Microsoft's AI-powered Bing chatbot has just become another avenue for ad placements. According to the latest blog post from the Redmond Big Tech, users will begin seeing more sponsored responses from hereon, although some reports claim that the ads have already appeared on Bing chat since its launch.
Sponsored Ads in Bing AI Chat Responses Spotted Before Microsoft's Announcement
Microsoft VP for Search and Devices Yusuf Mehdi revealed in the company's update that they are "currently exploring putting ads in Bing's chat experience." As of now, the tech giant has a few plans on how to insert ads in the responses of the GPT4-powered chatbot, but these plans might still change as they are still in the testing phase of this feature.
According to Engadget, some users have been reporting the existence of ads in Bing's AI chat responses since the chatbot went live. The ads do not seem to appear for most users, although it should be expected that ads will show up more frequently following Microsoft's confirmation.
Microsoft's director for communications, Caitlin Roulston, also confirmed in a statement to The Verge that the new Bing chat will have ads, similar to how ads pop up in traditional search results.
"Since the new Bing is in preview, there may be some variability in how it's currently showing up. We're still exploring new opportunities for ad experiences and will share more over time," Roulston said.
Microsoft has reportedly held meetings with ad agencies in February, discussing how the ads can be implemented in Bing's chat responses.
Related Article: Microsoft Introduces Bing's AI ChatBot to Mobile Devices And Skype, Adds Voice Support
How Microsoft Can Insert Ads into Bing Chatbot's Responses
Microsoft admitted that they will put more ads into Bing's chatbot replies. At this point, there are many ways that the company can squeeze in ads. For one, the ads can be displayed as linked citations, which can be found below Bing's response.
Users can also expect a feature to pop up when they hover over a brand-sponsored link, which will contain more links directing to the brand's websites that can bring more site traffic. Lastly, Microsoft may add rich captions to promote brands from the personalized news feed on Start, which is just beside Bing's response.
Microsoft can figure out many other ways to place the ads on the Bing chatbot. There is also a possibility that users will see a higher volume of ads in the coming days as the company finalizes a setup for sponsored responses. However, there is an issue of whether the inclusion of ads in the responses will further affect Bing chat's reliability, citing instances that the chatbot responses contain questionable information.
As the Bing chatbot continues raking in more users by the day, it is not surprising that Microsoft will see this as an opportunity to monetize. As of writing, the AI chat has more than 100 million active daily users, and more than a third of this number has just tried using Bing.
