Ahead of Time – Issue #5

OpenAI confirms ads in ChatGPT: trust, pricing, and what happens next 

These are the news of the month: OpenAI has officially confirmed that ads are coming to ChatGPT, something many people expected as the company looks for a more sustainable business model. OpenAI says ads won’t influence the content of responses.   

According to The Information, advertising on ChatGPT could cost around $6 per 1,000 views. If that figure is accurate, it would be roughly 3–8x higher than typical pricing on major ad platforms, depending on the industry. 

Competitors are paying attention. DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis said he was surprised by how quickly OpenAI is moving toward ads, warning that placing ads inside generative assistants could risk user trust, something Sam Altman has been clear he wants to avoid. Will it hold up? Hassabis also noted that Google’s Gemini currently has “no plans” to introduce ads. 

Why it matters 

This is a major shift, and the big question is what happens next. Ad testing will start soon in the US. There is no set timeline for the UK or EU, but access may be available later this year or next. 

While we wait for early results and more detail on how the ad platform will work, brands should double down on organic visibility (GEO) to understand how discoverability works inside AI environments, and to get an early signal of what paid placement may eventually look like. 

And if pricing really lands that high, it highlights just how valuable ad presence could become inside responses. Ads would appear within the same highly relevant, contextual conversations, bringing paid and organic closer together than we’ve ever seen in traditional search. 

AI browsers: Gemini comes to Chrome with conversational and agentic browsing 

Google has announced new Chrome updates powered by Gemini 3, including a chatstyle side panel and tighter integration with Google apps. The experience is becoming more conversational and proactive, in line with how the whole market is moving, with some browsers being built as AInative from the start (e.g. Comet, ChatGPT Atlas) and others gradually adding AI features. 

The standout update is Auto Browse. It can take care of multistep tasks for you, like researching travel, filling in forms, managing subscriptions, or finding items from a photo and adding them to your cart. It can use saved passwords if you allow it, and it will always ask before doing anything sensitive, such as making a purchase. Google also announced Nano Banana image editing, plus upcoming Personal Intelligence features for more helpful, contextaware support. 

This is launching first as a preview in the US for Google AI Pro and Ultra subscribers. 

Why it matters 

Google’s announcement shows how browsing is becoming more AI‑led. Whether through AI‑native browsers or traditional ones adding AI features, we’re moving toward a world where LLMs help browse on behalf of users through conversational, agentic interfaces. For brands, this means: 

• Brands need to ensure their content is structured, clear and AI machinereadable so AI systems can interpret it accurately and surface them in relevant queries.  

• The website must be fast, trustworthy and easy to complete tasks on (because Auto Browse will try to complete tasks autonomously, and poor UX will simply drop conversions. 

Soon, it may be Gemini (or another LLM) doing the browsing, not the customer. 

Source of image: https://blog.google/products-and-platforms/products/chrome/gemini-3-auto-browse/

YouTube’s 2026 vision: AI tools for creators and stricter content controls

YouTube has outlined its 2026 vision, putting AI at the centre of how creators make content and how viewers discover it. The update covers everything from creation tools to recommendations and safety systems. It’s very similar to the direction TikTok has already been heading in, using AI to power creation, personalisation and content governance all in one place.

YouTube says creators will be able to make Shorts using AI versions of themselves, turn text prompts into simple games, and experiment with music using generative tools. AI will also sit behind tools that help creators produce content faster and more easily.

On the platform side, YouTube plans to use AI more visibly across personalised recommendations and to improve detection of deepfakes, low‑quality ‘AI slop’, spam and clickbait. It will also clearly label AI‑generated content and give creators controls to manage how their likeness is used, aligning with broader industry expectations around transparency.

Why it matters

This shows how quickly AI is becoming part of everyday content production. These tools will make it easier to create more formats, test ideas faster, and scale content without adding cost.

At the same time, governance and transparency matter more than ever. Platforms are paying close attention to deepfakes, low‑quality AI content and the risks around misuse. It’s reassuring to see the biggest players taking this seriously, with clearer labelling and better controls for how likeness and AI‑generated content are used.

For brands, this means balancing the speed and efficiency that AI offers with the responsibility that comes with it: using AI tools confidently, being transparent about what’s generated, and making sure creative governance and quality checks are in place so content doesn’t slip into low‑quality AI slop.

AI, Trust and Responsibility take centre stage at Davos

AI was a common theme at Davos 2026, but the discussion quickly moved beyond technical breakthroughs. The focus this year was on responsible innovation, not just how fast AI can scale, but how to do it in a way that considers societal impact, strong governance and changes to the labour market. The tone was clear: the real question now is trust. Who controls AI? Who benefits from it? And how will transparency and good governance shape competitiveness?

Trust became a defining issue at Davos. Countries and companies that can show their AI is transparent, well‑governed and aligned with the public interest are now seen as better positioned to earn adoption and stay competitive.

Adding to this, Anthropic announced an expanded ‘Claude Constitution’, a principles‑led framework that guides how Claude prioritises safety, ethics, compliance and helpfulness. This update strengthened Claude’s position as one of the most ethics‑focused models and reignited debate about how advanced AI systems should reason about responsibility and societal values.

Why it matters

AI is at the centre of global conversations, not just as a technology but as an accountability issue. Trust has always mattered for brands, but AI has introduced a new layer to it. Showing that the use of AI is transparent and responsible is becoming a key factor in shaping customer confidence and influencing partner decisions. Governance is now a genuine competitive advantage, where strong policies, thoughtful creative quality assurance and clear disclosure around AI‑generated content matter just as much as performance. Ethics‑aligned tools are becoming increasingly important too, as leading models move towards principled, safety‑first design. Brands that follow similar standards are more likely to stand out and stay protected. At the same time, reputation risk rises as AI‑generated content scales, making accuracy, transparency and alignment with brand values more critical than ever.

Apple’s Siri upgrade is coming in February, powered by Google Gemini

Apple is preparing to launch a major upgrade to Siri in February, powered by Google’s Gemini models. This marks one of the biggest strategic shifts in Apple’s AI roadmap, after falling behind competitors for more than two years. According to Bloomberg reporting, this update will finally deliver the more intelligent, conversational and proactive Siri Apple promised back in 2024, including abilities like understanding on‑screen content, referencing personal context and taking actions inside apps on your behalf.

This upgrade is only the first step. Apple is also planning a complete redesign of Siri for later this year, with sustained, backandforth conversations and a new architecture built for the ‘chatbot era’.

Why it matters

This update means Siri will become noticeably more capable day to day. With Gemini handling more of the underlying intelligence, Siri will be better at understanding what you’re doing, managing tasks across apps and responding in a more natural, helpful way. It also allows Apple to move faster this year, closing some of the gap with competitors and making AI assistants feel more useful in people’s everyday lives. It won’t immediately lead to physical or embodied AI, but it does move things closer to the idea of an assistant that can handle more on its own and support more of your routine without constant prompting.

Microsoft is building conversational shopping into Copilot

Microsoft has launched Copilot Checkout and Brand Agents, two new commerce tools that let people shop and buy directly inside Copilot conversations. First released in the US on 8 January 2026, these features turn Copilot into a full end‑to‑end shopping experience rather than just a discovery tool. Customers can now browse products, compare options, ask follow‑up questions and complete their purchase within the same chat, without being redirected to a website. Brands can also deploy their own AI‑powered agent, trained on their product catalogue, to guide shoppers in their own voice.

Why it matters

This update sits within a wider shift happening across the industry: shopping is becoming conversational. People are starting product searches inside AI assistants, asking follow‑up questions in chat, and expecting to complete a purchase without moving between tabs or websites. With Copilot Checkout and Brand Agents, Microsoft is aligning with what Google and OpenAI are already doing, making the whole shopping journey happen inside one dialogue.

For brands, this means AI assistants are quickly becoming new storefronts. The brands that ensure their product data, content and experience work well inside these conversational environments will be in a stronger position as this behaviour becomes more normal for shoppers.

Source of image: https://about.ads.microsoft.com/en/blog/post/january-2026/conversations-that-convert-copilot-checkout-and-brand-agents