Advertising in an AI search product is a paid placement. It should be recorded separately from the generated answer and its organic citations. Program availability, formats, eligibility, and reporting vary by provider.
The announcements linked below are dated source material. Verify the current buying interface and policy before planning a campaign.
ChatGPT placements and buying
OpenAI’s current help page says ads may appear on Free and Go accounts. It excludes the listed paid ad-free plans and accounts identified as belonging to people under 18. Ads are labeled and placed separately below responses. These are provider statements checked on September 10, 2026.Ads in ChatGPT. Explains placement, eligibility, personalization, and the separation between advertising and generated answers.
OpenAI says advertising does not influence ChatGPT’s answers. Buying an ad therefore should not be sold as buying an organic recommendation.
The May 5, 2026 Ads Manager announcement introduced self-service campaign access, cost-per-click bidding alongside impression buying, and conversion measurement through an API and pixel. Check account and country eligibility before scheduling a campaign.New ways to buy ChatGPT ads. Dated launch announcement for buying and measurement features. Account access may differ.
Google advertising placements
Google documents ads above, below, and within AI Overviews. Existing eligible campaigns can serve in these placements. The requirements for ads within an overview differ from those above or below it.Google Ads: ads and AI Overviews. The current help page identifies supported campaigns, placement restrictions, and reporting limits.
The documentation says advertisers cannot target only AI Overview placements or opt out of those placements. It also says Google Ads does not provide segmented reporting for ads within AI Overviews. Do not describe the full Search campaign total as an AI Overview result.
Keep AI Mode separate. Google’s December 2025 product summary described AI Mode ad testing. That announcement does not establish the current availability of every placement in a particular account.Google Ads Highlights of 2025. Historical announcement describing AI Mode ad tests, distinct from the AI Overviews help page.
Microsoft Copilot announcements
Microsoft’s March 2025 announcement introduced Showroom ads and Dynamic filters as tests. Its April 2026 announcement describes Offer Highlights for retail in English-speaking markets across product detail pages in Copilot, Edge, and Bing.Microsoft Advertising, April 21, 2026. Describes Offer Highlights and related commerce features; availability is specific to the announced formats.
Identify the format and product in the campaign proposal. Copilot ads, tools used to create ads, and organic Copilot recommendations are separate things. Ask which delivery and conversion metrics the account can export.
Perplexity: confirm availability before planning
Perplexity’s November 2024 announcement described an advertising experiment. The source is historical. This review did not establish a current public buying route from Perplexity’s own documentation.
Leave Perplexity out of a committed media plan until the provider confirms availability, format, and reporting for the proposed campaign. Do not use the old announcement as evidence that the same program can be purchased today.
Verify current availability
Do not infer current advertising availability from a product’s earlier policy. Check the provider’s current public position and buying options.
Evaluating an advertising program
Before testing any program, answer these questions:
- Where does the ad sit relative to the organic answer: below it, beside it, or woven into it?
- Can the ad change the answer text itself, or is the separation structural?
- What does targeting read: the current conversation, account history, a profile, or all three?
- How is it bought: a new platform, or existing campaigns made automatically eligible?
- What is disclosed to the user, and what does the advertiser get back: impressions, clicks, conversions?
- What does a paid slot do to the organic slot on the same answer, if anything?
Report paid delivery using the available ad metrics. Keep organic mentions and recommendations in a separate measure. Paid AI Search Strategy covers test design.