Ads are gone...

...but they'll be back

Ads. One of the scourges of modern life. Over the past few years we’ve watched the streaming companies pivot from being all about subscribers to being all about ads. Netflix, which spent years pitching itself as TV without ads had a change of heart and embraced ads. As do Disney Plus, Amazon, YouTube. Ads are everywhere.

Then there’s the web. Google, an unashamed ad platform leads the charge, but the rest of the web is saturated with ads. The problem is so bad a whole ad-blocker ecosystem has sprung up. Not wanting to be left out, Windows has gone down a similar path - the taskbar ‘widgets’ pushes clickbait ‘news’ stories, while Edge does something similar in its default configuration. It’s hard to remain focussed while using the modern web - there is so much noise competing for our attention.

For now, AI is different. ChatGPT and Claude have simplistic interfaces. Ask a question and they answer it - and only it. They don’t slip in product placement. They don’t include adverts in their replies. These days I barely use web search. And I’ve come to realise I’m significantly more focused if I use Claude (or ChatGPT) rather than Google. Although it does beg the question: how much of the productivity improvement from LLMs is down to the lack of distraction? Hint: I reckon it’s more than zero.

But if the streaming company experience repeats then it’s only a matter of time before ads arrive. Once the market is saturated and the AI companies can no longer increase subscriber counts they’ll pivot to including ads. Copilot is already there - it pushes ads on you whether you want them or not. Ask Copilot what it thinks about ads and it’ll tell you ads “can be useful”. Personally, I disagree. It’s part of the reason I don’t use Copilot anymore.

When ads arrive what will it look like? The current Copilot implementation is pretty basic - it’s obvious you are seeing ads. But a future AI could be much more devious. Subtle product placement. An extended campaign to get you to switch to buy a particular product. I can’t say I’m looking forward to it.

We are living in a golden age. Enjoy it while it lasts.