Google is quietly testing ads in AI chatbots (Is there anything they can't pollu

[Texacon]

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100220290089

usonian

4 hrs ago

Google is quietly testing ads in AI chatbots (Is there anything they can't pollute with ads or ruin with spyware?)

https://arstechnica.com/ai/2025/05/google-is-quietly-testing-ads-in-ai-chatbots/

Google has built an enormously successful business around the idea of putting ads in search results. Its most recent quarterly results showed the company made more than $50 billion from search ads, but what happens if AI becomes the dominant form of finding information? Google is preparing for that possibility by testing chatbot ads, but you won't see them in Google's Gemini AI—at least not yet.

A report from Bloomberg (https://archive.ph/Sfrr6) describes how Google began working on a plan in 2024 to adapt AdSense ads to a chatbot experience. Usually, AdSense ads appear in search results and are scattered around websites. Google ran a small test of chatbot ads late last year, partnering with select AI startups, including AI search apps iAsk and Liner.

The testing must have gone well because Google is now allowing more chatbot makers to sign up for AdSense. "AdSense for Search is available for websites that want to show relevant ads in their conversational AI experiences," said a Google spokesperson.

If people continue shifting to using AI chatbots to find information, this expansion of AdSense could help prop up profits. There's no hint of advertising in Google's own Gemini chatbot or AI Mode search, but the day may be coming when you won't get the clean, ad-free experience at no cost.





And how long until we get "sponsored results" in chat results?
And leaking your naughty questions to advertisers? OHHH NOOOOOOOH.
I always thought and still may be right that Google/Waymo (waymo money) cars will take you to the pizza place of GOOGLE'S CHOOSING instead of the one you tell it. OR ELSE.

They should look at DU without an ad blocker!  There is only about 60% of the screen that’s usable.

Also, according to the 2 replies … They’re super smart. 

usonian

2

I had to look them up.

2 min ago

Sounds like Siri. I turn it off. I have been computing before there was a Google and before there was an Apple.

I am insulted if some piece of silicon claims to "outsmart me" because that makes me dependent on a black box. I prefer tools that I can depend on to do what I want. No hallucinations from a saw or a router doing north of 12,000 rpm.


I still keep a calculator and got a monster graphing calculator at the thrift store for $2.50 mainly because fractions are a PITA, and I even tutored fractions for a friend.

Can't say anything about Gemini. I seriously have a backlog of practical and potentially useful things to do in the "keep it simple" realm.

I read an article, I think it was this one, and one other that goes off on megalimaniac tech bosses.

https://www.techpolicy.press/adam-becker-takes-aim-at-silicon-valley-nonsense/

https://arstechnica.com/culture/2025/04/youre-not-going-to-mars-and-you-wont-live-forever-exploding-silicon-valleys-ideology/

Both are book tours. Ha.

So much space nonsense when real people are in desperate need here and now. Heartless people. Rich or poor, heartless.

But I ramble.

Yeah, you ramble.

KC

[SSG Snuggle Bunny]

Who are these people who click Google prompted ads enough to merit $50 billion in revenue?

[SVPete]

15 hours old, still just 2 Replies.

I've only been working with computers since 1982, not pre-Apple. But I learned how to ignore banner ads in websites back in the late 90s, and if I can, even most DUmmies can as well. Perhaps even many/most DU-Denizens realize that usonian is tantrumming at cyber-windmills and don't care to be his Sancho Panza (or his hobby-horse Rocinante).

[Old n Grumpy]

Just use a different search engine. Google isn’t the only one out there. I avoid them like the plague.

[Texacon]

Just use a different search engine. Google isn’t the only one out there. I avoid them like the plague.

Absolutely!  I’ve been using DDG for several years now. Love it.

KC

[RonE]

I did much the same on my desktop. I've replaced google with Startpage as my search engine, Also went away from Microsoft/McAfee by switching to to Avast for my browser, anti-virus and VPN. I'm sure that doesn't completely shield me from the bad guys, but helps. No pop-ups since making these changes.

[enslaved1]

Who are these people who click Google prompted ads enough to merit $50 billion in revenue?

People unaware/unobservant enough to not notice the little "sponsored" line by the first half dozen or so results, depending on what you are looking up.  I barely search anything in Google anymore, DDG works pretty well for my needs.

Usonian is having a broken clock moment though.  Google and Apple and Meta and companies we don't know the names of are hoovering up as much data as they can for the purpose of pointing people towards their sponsors, in the interest of generating revenue.