If you use ChatGPT to do visual searches (as I do), you might find a new form of ChatGPT ads joining the chat. On October 5, OpenAI announced plans to test visual advertisements that appear alongside images people generate with ChatGPT. The format creates an interesting opportunity for advertisers to reach consumers as they explore ideas visually, including ideas that may eventually lead to purchases. The initial test will begin later in October in the United States, with a limited group of advertisers reaching users on ChatGPT’s Free and Go plans.
How ChatGPT’s New Visual Ads Will Work
ChatGPT already supports advertisements containing product images. The new format allows advertisers to reach people when they ask ChatGPT to create or modify images, such as when they’re experimenting with kitchen designs, planning a wedding, or exploring other visual ideas.
For example, suppose you’re planning to remodel your kitchen. You upload a photograph of your existing kitchen and ask ChatGPT to show you how it would look with different cabinet configurations. You might experiment with floor-to-ceiling cabinets, open shelving, or a kitchen island with additional storage.
As ChatGPT generates those images, you could encounter an advertisement from a cabinet manufacturer showing its products in a similar kitchen. The ad might encourage you to explore cabinet styles or schedule a design consultation.
Or consider someone planning a wedding. They ask ChatGPT to generate images showing different reception layouts, floral arrangements, and table settings. An advertiser selling wedding decorations might appear alongside those images, giving the couple an opportunity to explore products related to their planning.
OpenAI has not explained how closely advertisements will correspond to the content of individual image prompts, but we can reasonably expect that ChatGPT will incorporate ads like these in a conversational way. The company has confirmed that advertisements will be labeled and displayed separately from the images ChatGPT generates. Advertisers won’t be inserting branded products into the images people create. Instead, advertising will appear alongside the creative experience.
What ChatGPT’s New Visual Ads Mean for Advertisers
The new format gives advertisers an opportunity to reach consumers while they’re using AI to visualize products, designs, and experiences they may eventually want to purchase.
Someone experimenting with kitchen cabinet layouts may be months away from hiring a contractor or purchasing materials. They may have no particular cabinet manufacturer in mind. But they’re already making decisions about what appeals to them visually. An advertisement showing how a manufacturer’s cabinets look in a finished kitchen could influence those preferences.
The opportunity extends to other categories where consumers want to see possibilities before making purchases. Businesses such as furniture retailers, home improvement brands, travel companies, and automotive advertisers could use visual ads to show consumers how their products fit into the ideas they’re exploring.
But advertisers will need to distinguish between visual exploration and purchase intent. Someone using ChatGPT to experiment with kitchen designs may be considering a renovation. Someone generating a funny illustration for a friend’s birthday probably isn’t shopping for anything. The commercial value of the new format will depend partly on whether OpenAI can distinguish between those activities and help advertisers reach people whose interests are relevant to their products. OpenAI has not yet explained how targeting will work.
The new format also responds to advertiser demand for more creative options in ChatGPT. Advertisers have been frustrated by limited ad formats since OpenAI began selling ads in February 2026. The October 5 announcement addresses this concern.
OpenAI is also expanding its advertising measurement capabilities. Partnerships with companies including LiveRamp, AppsFlyer, Triple Whale, and Northbeam are intended to help advertisers connect ChatGPT advertising to conversions and sales. Other partners are exploring geographic experiments to determine whether advertising produces incremental business.
What Advertisers Should Do Now
Advertisers should start identifying where visual ads in ChatGPT could influence purchasing decisions, particularly for products that consumers want to see before they buy. Home furnishings, travel, beauty, automotive, and event planning are among the categories where people frequently explore visual options before making purchases.
Advertisers can begin preparing without committing additional media dollars. We recommend four steps:
- Identify where visual exploration influences purchasing. Review how customers research your products. Do they compare styles, experiment with configurations, or seek inspiration before visiting your website? Consider how your brand might reach potential customers when they ask ChatGPT to visualize products or explore design options.
- Review your visual creative assets. Assess whether your existing product photography and advertising creative demonstrate how customers use your products. A furniture retailer, for example, may benefit from showing a complete room arrangement rather than an isolated product against a white background.
- Follow OpenAI’s targeting and placement capabilities. The value of the new format will depend heavily on how advertisers reach relevant audiences. Watch for details about whether OpenAI uses image prompts to determine ad relevance, what targeting controls advertisers receive, and how ads appear alongside generated images.
- Prepare to measure performance. Establish benchmarks for acquisition costs, conversion rates, and other business outcomes before testing. Pay particular attention to incrementality. Advertisers need to understand whether ChatGPT introduces new customers or receives credit for purchases that other marketing channels already influenced.
OpenAI’s initial test should help advertisers understand whether people engage with ads while creating images and whether those interactions eventually lead to purchases. As more consumers use AI to visualize what they want before deciding what to buy, advertisers will need to understand how those activities influence purchasing decisions.
True Interactive helps advertisers evaluate emerging advertising channels and determine where they fit within their marketing strategies. Learn more about us on our website. Contact us to discuss how we can help you prepare for new opportunities in AI advertising.
Hero image by Dima Solomin on Unsplash
