Google partners with AI startups to put ads in their chatbots

Google is placing ads in AI chatbot conversations. As reported by Bloomberg and picked up by TechCrunch, Google’s AdSense network has been offering ad placement in third-party AI chatbot interfaces since earlier this year.

AdSense is a Google program that places ads on websites. Advertisers pay Google a fee for placement, and Google passes on some of that money to the owners of pages displaying the ads. Selling ad space on third-party websites and directly in Google Search results is how Google makes most of its money. As AI interfaces draw more eyes over time, it makes sense that advertisers would be willing to pay to hawk their wares within those interfaces. It seems Google is now happy to facilitate that interaction for a fee.

Testing for AdSense ads in conversational AI interfaces reportedly started last year with AI startups iAsk and Liner, and this year, the feature will be rolling out more widely. “AdSense for Search is available for websites that want to show relevant ads in their conversational AI experiences,” a Google spokesperson told Bloomberg.

AI and ads: A match made… somewhere

Google has been in hot water in recent years over its dominance in the online ad space. In 2019, Google lost an EU antitrust case centered around ads placed in Google search results on third-party sites, though that decision was annulled in September. Just last month, a US judge ruled that Google maintained an illegal monopoly on both online ad exchanges and publisher ad servers. Google plans to appeal.

Yesterday, Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai testified in a separate antitrust trial centered around Google’s monopolization of online search. The US government may seek to force Google to sell off its Chrome browser, which, the Justice Department argues, has propped up Google’s ad business by gathering user data that can be used to sell more specific ads.