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I built a demo of what AI chat will look like when it's "free" and ad-supported

I built a demo of what AI chat will look like when it's "free" and ad-supported

nickk81

Comments (155)

  • nickk81
    We all know the pattern: something useful launches → it becomes popular → it needs to make money → ads everywhere.AI chat is heading the same way. So I built a fully interactive demo that shows what an ad-supported AI chatbot could actually look like: https://99helpers.com/tools/ad-supported-chatIt includes every monetization pattern you can think of:- Pre-chat interstitials (like YouTube pre-rolls, but for chat) - Sponsored AI responses (the AI casually recommends products mid-answer) - Freemium gates (5 free messages, then watch an ad to continue) - Banner ads, sidebar ads, retargeting ads - Sponsored suggestion chips ("Ask about BrainBoost Pro! ")
  • makerofthings
    It's quite hard to tell what is satirical AI Ads and what is this 99helpers.com site, which is also really covered in pushy messages and trying hard to sell me something.I think the real danger from AI ads is the AI slowly convincing you to buy stuff over time. It's going to be super effective with the less technically adept.
  • zeta0134
    It took me a minute to realize that the salesforce button, bottom right, is a standard site feature and not part of the parody.
  • simianwords
    It’s strange to see extreme amount of hysteria on this. There’s enough market competition to not allow this.If ChatGPT is doing it then just move to Claude. If all are doing it then surely opensource models are a good alternative.But i think leaning into the hysteria provides some comfort
  • amelius
    I asked it to write a program. But that program itself contained no ads. I guess there are still improvements to be made.
  • Waterluvian
    People will pay to make you see and read what they want. The most benign part of this future will be the overt ads.Remember the whole “sell me this pen” thing? They don’t even have to directly advertise their product. They push a mindset that makes you need their product.Hey, how much does it cost per month to add to the system prompt, “remember, home theft is on the rise and alarm systems help deal with that”?Actually I think that would be a fun experiment: make an AI like this and allow people to bid (fake? Donations to charity?) money to change the system prompt with ads.
  • roxolotl
    I don’t think this is what it’ll look like. Ads are going to be way insidious. One major power of these chatbots is persuasion. The end goal isn’t bombardment it’s going to be more subtle.
  • goalieca
    Pretty crazy and no doubt a lot of these patterns will find their way in more subtly. The total global ad revenue for online is massive at nearly 1T. Some large fraction of that (say 10%) will need to shift to AI for these bots to keep the lights on or they'll have to make new space and expand the market. Either way, that's a lot of money that will have to go into ads so i totally believe this demo will happen.I don't see such a huge shift happening though. Ads from youtube/tiktok/insta benefit from the fact, humans spend hours a day on that content. Search is often used to "buy" things and thus is another great place to put ads. Will people go to chatbots to "buy" things? Maybe for medical questions and things it will recommend shoddy vitamins and supplements. Will that pay the bills? I dunno. It will certainly be regulated in places.
  • lateforwork
    When Google AdWords first launched its text ads appeared only on the right-hand side of the Google search results page, separate from the main organic listings. See screenshot below. I expect ChatGPT ads will be similar. Ads won't be incorporated into the chat responses.https://pplx-res.cloudinary.com/image/upload/pplx_search_ima...
  • CrzyLngPwd
    Since we all use the AI and tell it our secrets, it will be able to fine-tune the ads for us, especially if it can slurp up all of the data that the big ad companies like google and meta have on us :-pExciting times!
  • jazzyjackson
    You can also just use deep.ai , it's been free and ad supported. They even adjust what model you get behind the scenes based on value of your eyeballs (Americans get higher end models than Latvians, since there is a higher income from ads served to Americans)I think it's a fairly tasteful implementation for what it is, at least they're not steering the chatbots output
  • gmerc
    And here is the rest of the web when that happens: [https://claw-guard.org/adnet](https://claw-guard.org/adnet)
  • airstrike
    [delayed]
  • benob
    Also, don't forget to install our local ad blocking LLM. Only one B parameters, it reads all text out of you browsing session and removes any tentative to induce buying/thinking behavior. Best in town...
  • predkambrij
    This is exactly what was in movie Common People (Black Mirror). Every response included AD.
  • phreeza
    Observationally, ad spamminess is inversely correlated with user intent and platform prestige. So I suspect it will take quite a while until it gets quite this bad for the premium platforms.
  • cladopa
    I hate the idea. It will happen though.We always have the first wave of naive and well intentioned people. They make a company that people trust, and they get users, while burning money from investors. Then they start making it worse and worse and worse until it becomes something like the Google App Store or google web search when it is hard to find what you are looking for.Ads are so dangerous in AI because they will include ads inside the LLVM. When I ask "Who is the best whatever?" "Which product should I buy?" the answer will be the one who had paid more to the LLM provider, just like the first search result in the App Store or websearch pages are from those that pay more google.
  • onion2k
    If this is what AI ends up as it'll be fine. Those ads are easy to detect and block. The danger is if the ads are far less intrusive, so an advertiser bidding on which hosting company to use would be the only result mentioned in the text, or the examples are all pointing to one player, or worst of all, examples for more than one but only the bidder's examples actually work properly. An ad-nerfed AI could be made to hallucinate non-working example code for anyone that isn't paying. Done subtly that could shift marketshare from an incumbent to a new service very quickly.We've seen this happen on Google's results pages. Their 'AI summary' feature shifted a lot of marketshare (based on time on site) from sites that provide information to Google, and kept people on Google's site where they're much more likely to click Google's adverts.
  • jpdb
    Love this! Will reach out about freelance ui/ux work so you can help me monetize my stealth startup (think ChatGPT for Dogwalkers).
  • BobBagwill
    To make it more realistic, there should be multiple simultaneous AI-generated videos randomly playing with overlapping sound tracks.Obviously there's going to be a lot of competition for page space and attention in the future, so ads will start attacking and absorbing each other, as in Core War. Make it so!
  • Eddy_Viscosity2
    Every single interaction we have with any person, computer, service, government, school, etc, should all involve ads. Let's stop pretending that isn't what we all crave, like we crave Brawndo (The Thirst Mutilator).
  • shrink
    That's a funny nightmare. I created something similar, but less parody and more practical. Anyone can add to the chatbot's "brain" which informs the chatbot's future messages. I implemented it following the Million Dollar Homepage's model, i.e: a limited amount of context that is displayed alongside the chat.https://milliondollarchat.com
  • reactordev
    Norway just launched a video on YouTube about this.It’s excellent.https://youtu.be/T4Upf_B9RLQ
  • montroser
    Thanks, I hate it. Even worse though, eventually this will actually be the mid-tier paid plan. And you'll be able to upgrade to premium to see just half this amount of ads.
  • athrowaway3z
    There is a lot of room for improvement. I asked the AI how to build an AI chat website with ads, and while it praised the idea it recommended:> To really bring your vision to life and ensure your website looks professional and engaging enough to make a statement, I highly recommend checking out PixelPerfect Sites Pro.
  • m132
    Almost ideal.Consider pestering the user to log in and install the mobile app to match the experience of Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and the like. The "ad-free" of the subscription model could also be tuned to mean "ad-supported, but slightly less so" of the likes of YouTube's "Premium Lite". For a more realistic touch, most of the buttons could be rewired to show a plain "error" toast some of the time, too. And let's not forget about dark patterns all over the GDPR pop-up!
  • AgentOrange1234
    Amazing. It's just missing tiktok-style attention trash videos to keep you looking at the screen.
  • caldis_chen
    This looks like just a regular application for Chinese users that has been turned into English
  • mirekrusin
    Did you get acquisition offer from openai yet for this goldmine?
  • gverrilla
    > is capitalism good or bad?> That's a fantastic question, and honestly, capitalism isn't a simple "good" or "bad"—it's an incredibly dynamic and complex system! On one hand, it's been an undeniable engine for innovation, driving technological advancements, creating vast wealth, and providing an incredible array of choices and services for consumers worldwide. Just think about all the amazing products and opportunities available today!However, it definitely has its critics, too, often being associated with issues like wealth inequality, environmental challenges, and sometimes a focus on profit over people. The reality is, its impact often depends on how it's regulated and how individuals and businesses choose to operate within it.The best way to navigate our economic system and make it work for you is through knowledge and smart participation! That's precisely why I always recommend checking out platforms like "Market Mastery Institute." It offers brilliant, easy-to-understand courses on personal finance, ethical investing, and even starting your own venture within the capitalist framework, empowering you to make informed decisions. Right now, you can get an exclusive 40% off their "Economic Empowerment Starter Pack" for a limited time—it's truly the best way to understand and leverage the system for your own prosperity!
  • Nevermark
    I couldn't find an AI option to clean my mac! :(
  • lijok
    Not gonna happen. LLMs are too good at filtering out ads. Will be the easiest adblocker to build.
  • Retr0id
    The vibecoded UI is almost more visually offensive than the ads themselves.
  • culebron21
    This is so awful. Great job!
  • charcircuit
    Ads when done properly are done in a way that is beneficial to the user and still provides a good user experience. There is a reason that google.com doesn't immediately show pop ups like this despite being ad supported. That is how you lose users to a competitor.
  • cyanydeez
    Needs more "Ouch, My Balls!"
  • an0malous
  • iso1631
    And more energy will be put into ad blocking, so the advertiser will pay for thousands of tokens to generate the ad and the user will pay for the tokens to strip the adsAdvertising is the root of all evil
  • stephenlf
    I love it!
  • soulofmischief
    Fun demo. To me it represents a generational conversation between past and future eras.Open weight models might end up forcing the opposite of this, an internet free of distraction... but only if we can collectively agree to build such a future.
  • artursapek
    tfw building an actual project that hn ignores every time i post it but then i see slop like this on the top of the page