What ads in AI answers are
Search ads appear above and below a list of links. An AI answer has no list: the assistant answers the question itself, and the ad is placed next to the answer or inside it. It is matched to the meaning of the whole conversation — ChatGPT and Alice AI take the context of the dialogue into account, not a single phrase.
Where they exist as of September 2026
| Platform | Status | Format |
|---|---|---|
| Google AI Overviews | live in English in 12 countries; outside the US since December 2025 | text and Shopping ads from Search, Shopping and Performance Max above, below and within the answer |
| Google AI Mode | testing; Conversational Discovery ads and Highlighted Answers presented on 20 May 2026 | the ad answers the question or appears as a sponsored entry in a list of recommendations |
| ChatGPT | US since 9 February 2026; also the UK, Mexico, Brazil, Japan and South Korea since 11 August; seven South-East Asian markets since 23 September | a unit below the answer labelled as sponsored, Free and Go tiers only, bought per impression or per click |
| Alice AI (Yandex) | in search since summer 2025; in the chat, testing since late 2025 | text ads and product cards from Yandex Direct |
| Perplexity | sponsored questions in the US from November 2024, wound down; exit from advertising announced in February 2026 | — |
According to Yandex, as of February 2026 ads appeared in 12% of the AI’s short answers.
How they differ from search ads
- The ad depends on the dialogue. ChatGPT shows an ad only when a sponsored product or service is relevant to the current conversation.
- The creative depends on data. Product formats are built from the feed: Google takes ads from Shopping campaigns, Yandex shows product cards.
- Reporting is thinner. Google says ads in AI Overviews are still in early stages and cannot be targeted separately. A familiar CTR for the AI block is not available everywhere.
The link to retail media
Retail media sells placements on a retailer’s platform based on purchase data; ads in AI answers sell placements inside a dialogue based on its context. Both catch the shopper at the moment of choice. For a retailer with its own assistant, a sponsored position in the assistant’s answer is the same kind of inventory as a sponsored product in catalogue search. The assistant becomes part of conversational commerce, where advice and advertising must stay visibly apart.
Risks and practice
Important: advertising rules generally require paid placements to be clearly identifiable as ads. If your assistant shows sponsored products, the label must be explicit and recommendations must be kept apart from paid positions.
- Do not launch a separate “AI campaign”: with Google and Yandex, ads reach AI answers from ordinary search and Shopping campaigns. Invest in feed completeness and ad accuracy.
- Keep paid presence apart from organic presence. The unpaid route into the same answers is citation through GEO.
- Judge the channel by performance marketing logic: cost per order and revenue, not just clicks.