Amazon starts buying ads on ChatGPT, but blocks OpenAI from accessing its data
Amazon has started buying ads on ChatGPT, making the company one of the most prominent retailers to emerge from OpenAI's new advertising business.
Amazon has started buying ads on ChatGPT, making the company one of the most prominent retailers to emerge from OpenAI's new advertising business.
The ads redirect users back to the Amazon platform, where the company has complete control over the customer experience and transactions.
E-commerce analyst Juozas Kaziukenas told Business Insider that Amazon's decision to buy ads on ChatGPT is "symbolic," given that the retailer has largely avoided participating in shopping AI projects that allow third-party chatbots and AI agents to collect and aggregate data about its products, prices, and inventory.
The move underscores the tension underlying Amazon’s AI strategy: The company is willing to pay for access to ChatGPT’s vast user base, but at the same time continues to fiercely protect its own purchase data and limit the ability of AI to access and use that information.
Instead of helping AI platforms collect and aggregate Amazon's catalog, the e-commerce giant uses them as marketing channels that drive customers back to its marketplace.
Amazon has already taken steps to limit AI scraping and data collection that could be used to create competing shopping platforms.
Last year, Amazon stopped providing product feeds for Google Shopping results, Kaziukenas said, while also updating its code to block a number of bots, including those from OpenAI. And earlier this year, Amazon successfully sued Perplexity to block an AI agent.
Amazon’s presence on ChatGPT could also be a promising sign for OpenAI’s nascent advertising business. Early data suggests that ChatGPT users often encounter ads when making queries with commercial implications, suggesting that advertisers are increasingly looking to the chatbot as a new channel to reach consumers who are actively searching for products.
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