ChatGPT advertising does not allow a business to select individual conversations where it wants an ad to appear. Instead, a business provides information about its offer and the situations in which that offer may be useful. OpenAI’s advertising system evaluates that information alongside the conversation to determine whether the ad may be relevant.
OpenAI says this evaluation considers several inputs, including the topic and intent of the current conversation, context hints provided by the advertiser, the ad’s headline and copy, and the landing page connected to the ad. No single input determines whether an ad will appear. The system considers them together when selecting and delivering eligible ads.
What ChatGPT Considers When Selecting an Ad
According to OpenAI, its advertising system considers the following information when evaluating an ad:
- The topic and intent of the current conversation
- Context hints supplied by the advertiser
- The ad’s headline
- The ad’s copy
- The landing page connected to the ad
The topic identifies what is being discussed, while intent relates to what the person appears to be trying to understand, compare or accomplish. This gives the advertising system information about the broader meaning of the conversation rather than limiting its evaluation to an isolated word or phrase.
A business is therefore not simply purchasing access to every conversation that contains a particular word. OpenAI evaluates what is being discussed alongside the information contained in the campaign. The business supplies information about its offer, while OpenAI controls ad selection and delivery.
How Context Hints Affect Ad Relevance
Context hints are descriptions supplied by an advertiser at the ad-group level. OpenAI says they can describe the conversations, needs and topics where a product or service may be useful. They add information that may not be fully communicated by the ad headline and copy alone.
Context hints are not exact-match keywords. A keyword can be used to organize or target advertising around a particular word or phrase, while a context hint can describe a broader conversation, need or topic in which an offer may be useful.
OpenAI also states that context hints do not guarantee delivery within a particular conversation. Including a subject in a context hint does not require ChatGPT to show the ad whenever that subject appears. Context hints help guide ad matching, but OpenAI’s system still evaluates them alongside the conversation, the advertisement and the landing page.
This means a business can describe the circumstances in which its offer may be relevant, but it cannot choose individual ChatGPT conversations. The advertiser is providing information that helps OpenAI evaluate relevance, not purchasing guaranteed placement within a specific conversation.
What the Business Controls
A business controls the information it supplies through the campaign, including:
- The campaign’s objective
- The organization of its ad groups
- The context hints attached to those ad groups
- The ad headline and copy
- The creative used in the ad
- The landing page
- The bid and budget
OpenAI identifies the headline, ad copy and landing page as inputs considered during ad selection. The headline and copy explain what the business is offering, while the landing page provides more complete information about what is available after someone selects the ad.
These parts of the campaign should accurately represent the same offer. The context hints describe the situations in which the offer may be useful, the advertisement presents that offer, and the landing page explains what the person will find after clicking. Together, they give OpenAI more complete information about the advertisement and its possible relevance to a conversation.
The business cannot control the content of a person’s conversation, require an ad to appear in a particular conversation or guarantee that a context hint will result in delivery. Its responsibility is to provide accurate and consistent information about what it offers. OpenAI’s advertising system remains responsible for determining whether an eligible ad is selected.
Privacy, Reporting and ChatGPT’s Answers
OpenAI states that advertisers do not have access to users’ chats, chat histories, memories or personal details. The conversation can be considered by OpenAI’s system when evaluating ad relevance without being shared with the advertiser. Context hints also do not provide a business with access to anyone’s conversation.
Advertisers receive aggregate information about how their ads perform, including information such as impressions and clicks. OpenAI also provides tools for measuring supported conversion actions. This allows a business to evaluate campaign performance without receiving the private conversations that may have contributed to its ads being selected.
OpenAI also states that ads are separate from ChatGPT’s answers and do not influence the answers users receive. An advertiser does not pay to change an answer or receive favorable treatment within it. Purchasing advertising can make a business eligible for paid placement, but it does not purchase inclusion in ChatGPT’s answer.
A business does not tell ChatGPT exactly which people should see its ad or choose the individual conversations in which it will appear. It provides the context hints, advertisement and landing page that OpenAI’s system evaluates alongside the topic and intent of an eligible conversation.
ChatGPT advertising is not based on a business gaining access to private conversations. It is based on OpenAI using the conversation and the information supplied through the campaign to determine whether an ad may be relevant. For the business, the central requirement is making sure every part of the campaign accurately communicates what it offers and when that offer may be useful.
Official Sources
- Ads in ChatGPT: The Basics
- Create Ad Groups for ChatGPT
- Ads in ChatGPT
- OpenAI’s Approach to Advertising
- Measure Results
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