"When OpenAI launched its ChatGPT Search feature in late 2024 and its browser, ChatGPT Atlas, in October 2025, it kicked off a race to capture online behavioral data to power advertising. It's part of a yearslong turnabout by OpenAI, whose CEO Sam Altman once called the combination of ads and AI "unsettling" and now promises that ads can be deployed in AI apps while preserving trust."
"In 2024, AI search company Perplexity started experimenting with ads in its offerings. A few months after that, Microsoft introduced ads to its Copilot AI. As a security expert and data scientist, we see these examples as harbingers of a future where AI companies profit from manipulating their users' behavior for the benefit of their advertisers and investors. It's also a reminder that time to steer the direction of AI development away from private exploitation and toward public benefit is quickly running out."
AI development has shifted toward an ad-driven model that mirrors social media, with major firms consolidating control and seeking to monetize user attention. OpenAI's ChatGPT Search and ChatGPT Atlas, launched in 2024 and 2025 respectively, intensified competition to collect online behavioral data for advertising. Perplexity, Microsoft Copilot, Google's AI Mode, and Amazon's Rufus have introduced or increased ad integration in AI features. Industry leaders who once criticized ads in AI now justify ad deployment while claiming to preserve trust. Security and data experts warn that this trajectory enables behavioral manipulation for advertisers and investors and reduces time to prioritize public-interest AI.
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