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2026: What Happens Next for Digital Marketing
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OpenAI has begun testing ads within ChatGPT, leading many to wonder if we are witnessing the birth of a “new Google”.
While the comparison is easy to make, the mechanics of conversational advertising are fundamentally different from traditional search.
The shift isn’t just about where ads appear, but the depth of data being leveraged. As former OpenAI researcher Zoë Hitzig noted following her recent resignation, ChatGPT interacts with users through “human candor.” Unlike a search engine that tracks keywords, a chatbot captures natural, long-form dialogue, creating a more intimate profile of user intent and personality.
For marketing leaders, understanding these distinctions isn’t just academically interesting – it’s essential for responsible strategy development and risk management.
Quick summary…
- Google tracks what users do and where they go, but ChatGPT captures how they think and feel through direct dialogue.
- The transition from search to conversation shifts the advertising practices from using broad behavioural patterns to intimate personal disclosures.
- Success in this new ad style requires a different ethical framework because users treat AI as a private advisor rather than a public search engine.
What’s the difference between conversational data and search data?
While Google builds profiles based on where you go and what you click across the web, ChatGPT captures the how and why of human thought through direct, long-form dialogue. This shifts the data landscape from tracking external behaviors to archiving the internal motivations and personal disclosures shared during private conversations.
The nature of data collection
Google’s advertising empire is built upon vast data collection spanning multiple products and services. Through Chrome, Search, YouTube, Android, and other properties, Google gathers approximately 20 distinct data categories including:
- Browsing history and patterns
- Location data (current and historical)
- Contact information
- Financial details
- App usage statistics
- Search queries.
This extensive tracking powers a remarkably profitable business, with Google generating approximately $238 billion in ad revenue in 2023, accounting for around 77% of its total income.
ChatGPT’s data collection footprint is fundamentally different. Rather than broad ambient tracking across browsing behaviours, ChatGPT primarily collects:
- Direct conversational inputs
- Uploaded files (limited to ~512MB per file)
- Dialogue histories within the platform.
The intimacy factor
Google’s data collection is vast but largely behavioural and demographic. ChatGPT conversations, by contrast, often contain deeply personal disclosures about:
- Mental health struggles
- Relationship challenges
- Personal fears and anxieties
- Financial circumstances
- Career uncertainties.
This conversational context creates what Hitzig described as “intimate profiles” that could potentially reveal more about a person’s inner life than even years of search data might capture.
Quick summary…
- Google tracks what users do and where they go, but ChatGPT captures how they think and feel through direct dialogue.
- The transition from search to conversation shifts the advertising practices from using broad behavioural patterns to intimate personal disclosures.
- Success in this new ad style requires a different ethical framework because users treat AI as a private advisor rather than a public search engine.
What’s the difference between conversational data and search data?
While Google builds profiles based on where you go and what you click across the web, ChatGPT captures the how and why of human thought through direct, long-form dialogue. This shifts the data landscape from tracking external behaviors to archiving the internal motivations and personal disclosures shared during private conversations.
The nature of data collection
Google’s advertising empire is built upon vast data collection spanning multiple products and services. Through Chrome, Search, YouTube, Android, and other properties, Google gathers approximately 20 distinct data categories including:
- Browsing history and patterns
- Location data (current and historical)
- Contact information
- Financial details
- App usage statistics
- Search queries.
This extensive tracking powers a remarkably profitable business, with Google generating approximately $238 billion in ad revenue in 2023, accounting for around 77% of its total income.
ChatGPT’s data collection footprint is fundamentally different. Rather than broad ambient tracking across browsing behaviours, ChatGPT primarily collects:
- Direct conversational inputs
- Uploaded files (limited to ~512MB per file)
- Dialogue histories within the platform.
The intimacy factor
Google’s data collection is vast but largely behavioural and demographic. ChatGPT conversations, by contrast, often contain deeply personal disclosures about:
- Mental health struggles
- Relationship challenges
- Personal fears and anxieties
- Financial circumstances
- Career uncertainties.
This conversational context creates what Hitzig described as “intimate profiles” that could potentially reveal more about a person’s inner life than even years of search data might capture.
Will ChatGPT follow the search ad playbook or create a new one?
While Google’s mature model focuses on maximising click-through rates across a massive ecosystem, OpenAI is currently balancing a subscription-first culture with a new, cautious entry into non-personalised advertising.
Google’s established monetisation
Google’s advertising business model is mature and transparent, with clear incentives to maximise data collection for targeting while providing enough privacy controls to maintain user trust. Its revenue overwhelmingly depends on advertising, creating strong economic pressure to optimise ad relevance and user targeting.
The company has developed various tools to balance these imperatives:
- Privacy Sandbox initiatives
- Ads Data Hub for privacy-preserving analysis
- Confidential matching technologies
- User-facing privacy controls and opt-out mechanisms.
OpenAI’s evolving approach
Until recently, OpenAI’s revenue came primarily from subscriptions rather than advertising, allowing it to prioritise access over engagement-driven monetisation. The introduction of ads in ChatGPT free accounts marks a potentially significant pivot.
OpenAI has stated these initial ads will be:
- Non-personalised
- Clearly labelled
- Designed not to influence AI responses
- Subject to user control (with ad data deletable after 30 days).
However, Hitzig’s resignation raises questions about future directions. She warned that OpenAI might follow “the same path as Facebook,” with early advertising implementations gradually evolving toward more aggressive monetisation that prioritises profit over user protection.
ChatGPT ads disrupt what users normally expect
The introduction of advertising into ChatGPT disrupts these expectations, particularly when users may have already shared sensitive information without anticipating its potential use for ad targeting.
The risks & ethical implications of ChatGPT ads
The ethical challenges facing marketing leaders considering AI advertising are substantial.
Novel data privacy considerations
Conversations with AI assistants like ChatGPT often contain more intimate, contextual information than search queries. This raises questions about:
- What constitutes informed consent for conversational data use
- Whether users fully understand potential profiling from their AI interactions
- How intimate disclosure might be exploited for hyper-personalised but potentially manipulative advertising.
Transparency requirements
Marketing leaders must consider how to maintain transparency about:
- The role of AI in content creation and ad targeting
- What conversational data points influence ad delivery
- How user privacy is protected in AI systems
- Whether AI responses might be subtly shaped by advertising goals.
Bias and fairness
AI systems can encode and amplify biases, creating risks around:
- Unequal treatment of demographic groups in ad targeting
- Potential discrimination in commercial opportunities
- Reinforcement of stereotypes through AI-driven recommendation.
Governance frameworks
Ethical AI advertising demands robust governance, including:
- Clear policies on conversational data use limits
- Regular bias audits and mitigation strategies
- Human oversight of AI-driven advertising approaches
- Strict consent mechanisms for personal data utilisation
- Adherence to emerging AI fairness frameworks
ChatGPT ads disrupt what users normally expect
The introduction of advertising into ChatGPT disrupts these expectations, particularly when users may have already shared sensitive information without anticipating its potential use for ad targeting.
The risks & ethical implications of ChatGPT ads
The ethical challenges facing marketing leaders considering AI advertising are substantial.
Novel data privacy considerations
Conversations with AI assistants like ChatGPT often contain more intimate, contextual information than search queries. This raises questions about:
- What constitutes informed consent for conversational data use
- Whether users fully understand potential profiling from their AI interactions
- How intimate disclosure might be exploited for hyper-personalised but potentially manipulative advertising.
Transparency requirements
Marketing leaders must consider how to maintain transparency about:
- The role of AI in content creation and ad targeting
- What conversational data points influence ad delivery
- How user privacy is protected in AI systems
- Whether AI responses might be subtly shaped by advertising goals.
Bias and fairness
AI systems can encode and amplify biases, creating risks around:
- Unequal treatment of demographic groups in ad targeting
- Potential discrimination in commercial opportunities
- Reinforcement of stereotypes through AI-driven recommendation.
Governance frameworks
Ethical AI advertising demands robust governance, including:
- Clear policies on conversational data use limits
- Regular bias audits and mitigation strategies
- Human oversight of AI-driven advertising approaches
- Strict consent mechanisms for personal data utilisation
- Adherence to emerging AI fairness frameworks
Is ChatGPT truly the new Google?
While ChatGPT could evolve into a significant advertising platform, fundamental differences in data types, user expectations, and ethical considerations mean it cannot simply replicate Google’s model:
- ChatGPT processes deeply contextual, often intimate conversational data versus Google’s broader behavioural signals.
- User expectations for AI assistants differ substantially from those of search engines.
- The ethical stakes for AI advertising are higher due to greater privacy sensitivity.
- Regulatory frameworks for conversational AI advertising remain underdeveloped.
These differences demand fresh approaches to privacy protection, consent mechanisms, and ethical guardrails – not simply adapting existing digital advertising practices to a new channel.
How should marketers respond to AI ads?
Marketing professionals navigating ChatGPT ads as they roll out should consider the following approaches:
-
Prioritise transparent disclosure
Implement clear, accessible explanations about:
- What conversational data might inform advertising
- How user information is protected
- What controls users have over their data.
-
Establish robust consent mechanisms
- Ensure truly informed opt-in for personalised advertising based on conversations
- Provide simple, effective opt-out options that don’t degrade core service quality
- Review consent approaches as regulatory expectations evolve.
Develop AI ethics committees
- Create cross-functional teams to evaluate AI advertising proposals
- Include diverse perspectives to identify potential harms
- Establish clear ethical boundaries for conversational data use.
Monitor regulatory developments
- Stay informed about emerging AI privacy regulations
- Participate in industry discussions on ethical standards
- Anticipate rather than react to compliance requirements.
Foster consumer trust through restraint
- Consider leaving certain sensitive conversation topics entirely off-limits for advertising purposes
- Implement data minimisation practices
- Demonstrate respect for user privacy through actions, not just policies.
Master the move to AI ads with Sleeping Giant Media
The move from search-based intent to conversational intimacy is the most significant change in digital marketing since the rise of social media. Navigating this change while staying compliant requires more than just a budget: it requires a partner who understands the intersection of high-performance growth and brand safety.
At Sleeping Giant Media, we help marketing leaders decode these emerging AI platforms, ensuring your strategy is as responsible as it is innovative. Contact us for AI ads support today.
How should marketers respond to AI ads?
Marketing professionals navigating ChatGPT ads as they roll out should consider the following approaches:
-
Prioritise transparent disclosure
Implement clear, accessible explanations about:
- What conversational data might inform advertising
- How user information is protected
- What controls users have over their data.
-
Establish robust consent mechanisms
- Ensure truly informed opt-in for personalised advertising based on conversations
- Provide simple, effective opt-out options that don’t degrade core service quality
- Review consent approaches as regulatory expectations evolve.
Develop AI ethics committees
- Create cross-functional teams to evaluate AI advertising proposals
- Include diverse perspectives to identify potential harms
- Establish clear ethical boundaries for conversational data use.
Monitor regulatory developments
- Stay informed about emerging AI privacy regulations
- Participate in industry discussions on ethical standards
- Anticipate rather than react to compliance requirements.
Foster consumer trust through restraint
- Consider leaving certain sensitive conversation topics entirely off-limits for advertising purposes
- Implement data minimisation practices
- Demonstrate respect for user privacy through actions, not just policies.
Master the move to AI ads with Sleeping Giant Media
The move from search-based intent to conversational intimacy is the most significant change in digital marketing since the rise of social media. Navigating this change while staying compliant requires more than just a budget: it requires a partner who understands the intersection of high-performance growth and brand safety.
At Sleeping Giant Media, we help marketing leaders decode these emerging AI platforms, ensuring your strategy is as responsible as it is innovative. Contact us for AI ads support today.
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