Three days before the first ads were set to appear inside ChatGPT, the marketers testing them received a brief update: the launch date had shifted from Feb. 6 to Feb. 9. No explanation came with it – just a scheduling change from a company still working out how openly it wants to talk about becoming an ads business.
The timing raised eyebrows.
The same day OpenAI notified marketers about that shift, rival Anthropic began running a brand marketing campaign during its Super Bowl slot, taking aim at the idea of chatbots selling ad space — an unsubtle critique. For some marketers, OpenAI’s delay looked less like a technical adjustment and more like optics management: let the noise pass, then proceed.
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