Advertising inside ChatGPT arrived with a promise that the assistant already knows what the user wants. So far, that hasn't entirely been the case.
New data from Searchable, an AI visibility platform, shows that a third of ads served inside ChatGPT conversations have no connection to what the user is actually discussing. The company analysed more than 11,000 ads served in real ChatGPT conversations between 4 July and 4 August 2026, pairing every ad with the conversation it appeared in and grading how closely the advertised product matched the user's query.
ChatGPT ad relevance data: What the numbers show
According to Artificial Intelligence News, the analysis placed every ad into one of three relevancy bands. The results show that 33% of ads were unrelated, with no connection to the conversation at all. Just over a quarter (27%) were a direct match, advertising the specific product the user was asking about. The largest group, 40%, were a contextual match, connected to something the user had mentioned.
The findings also highlight a deeper issue: more than two-thirds (68%) of ads appeared in conversations where the user showed no sign of wanting to buy, book, hire or compare anything. This suggests that many ads are being served to people who are not in a purchasing mindset at all.
Why ChatGPT ads miss the mark on user intent
The core problem appears to be how ChatGPT handles ad targeting. As noted in a LinkedIn discussion about the issue, one commenter pointed out that "they said they wouldn't use the chat context. So overall, the relevance is likely going to be weak and we have to get over the hurdle of everything being targeted like in the past."
This means ChatGPT may not be using the full conversation history to determine which ads to show, which would explain why so many ads appear in irrelevant conversations. The platform seems to be treating ad targeting more like traditional web advertising rather than leveraging the conversational data it has access to.
"It comes down to they said they wouldn't use the chat context. So overall, the relevance is likely going to be weak and we have to get over the hurdle of everything being targeted like in the past." — LinkedIn comment on ChatGPT ads
Users have also raised concerns about the ads themselves. A discussion on Reddit highlighted the statement that "Ads do not influence the answers ChatGPT gives you," with users noting that while ads may not change the AI's responses, they can still influence how people think and interact with the platform.
Our Take: AI advertising needs to deliver on its promise
The whole selling point of advertising inside an AI assistant is that the technology understands context better than traditional search ads. If a third of ads are completely unrelated to what someone is asking about, that promise falls flat.
To put it plainly: showing a user an ad for a product they have zero interest in — while they are in the middle of a conversation about something entirely different — is not just ineffective advertising. It is a poor user experience that could drive people away from the platform.
The fact that 68% of ads appear in conversations where users show no buying intent suggests ChatGPT is not yet reading the room. For advertisers, this means wasted spend. For users, it means noise. And for OpenAI, it means the ad model needs serious work before it can compete with the precision of traditional search advertising.
The data is clear: AI-powered advertising has a relevance problem. Until ChatGPT starts using conversation context to match ads with genuine user intent, advertisers and users alike will keep seeing the disconnect.
