OpenAI has temporarily turned off its app suggestions feature after widespread complaints from paying users who said that the recommendations for Peloton, Target, and other brands resembled ads.
The company clarified that the app suggestions weren’t paid advertisements but instead a way to improve the user experience by highlighting ChatGPT apps relevant to user prompts. However, several users criticized the feature because it often showed them irrelevant ads.
In response to a ChatGPT subscriber who criticized the feature, OpenAI Chief Research Officer Mark Chen confirmed that the company would disable it until it’s better.
Responding to the user on X, Chen said, ”I agree that anything that feels like an ad needs to be handled with care, and we fell short.”
”We’ve turned off this kind of suggestion while we improve the model’s precision. We’re also looking at better controls so you can dial this down or off if you don’t find it helpful,” he added.
Head of ChatGPT Nick Turley also joined the conversation to clarify the situation and calm displeased users.
In a post on X, Turley said, ”I’m seeing lots of confusion about ads rumors in ChatGPT. There are no live tests for ads – any screenshots you’ve seen are either not real or not ads. If we do pursue ads, we’ll take a thoughtful approach. People trust ChatGPT and anything we do will be designed to respect that.”
What’s Happening Exactly?
As part of its DevDay in October, ChatGPT unveiled a third-party integration that brought services like Booking.com, Canva, Figma, Spotify, and Zillow to the platform. Later, the platform added other services like Target, Walmart, and Peloton.
The feature allows ChatGPT users to use supported apps directly through the ChatGPT interface. For instance, using the Spotify app in ChatGPT, users can create playlists of their favorite songs on the platform.
Issues arose with the feature because it automatically suggested relevant (or irrelevant) apps below users’ prompts. For example, if you enter a prompt about buying a new soundbar, ChatGPT might suggest the Target app so you can browse soundbar options within ChatGPT.
Unfortunately, many ChatGPT subscribers have criticized the feature because the app suggestions look similar to ads.
What Happens Next?
Earlier this year, OpenAI hired former Instacart CEO Fidji Sumo to build its application division, a move widely seen as an effort to ramp up the company’s advertising business.
However, according to a Wall Street Journal report, a recent memo from OpenAI CEO Sam Altman declared a “code red,” asking employees to prioritize improving the quality of the generative-AI platform while scaling back on other initiatives, including advertising.
OpenAI reportedly uses color codes to indicate the severity of internal issues, with red signaling the highest level of urgency, followed by orange and yellow.
For now, ChatGPT subscribers won’t see ads within the chat interface, meaning ecommerce businesses won’t be able to rely on AI discovery in the near term. However, as OpenAI continues to add more features geared toward e-commerce businesses, such as Instant Checkout, it feels inevitable that ads will eventually appear on ChatGPT.
