"Those ads, at least the ones spotted in the wild, were from Expedia and were spotted by Ashley Fletcher from Adthena. He posted this screenshot of them: The query or prompt was [What's the best way to book a weekend away?] and it did not require a follow up prompt to trigger the ads. The ads just showed up at the bottom of the first response."
""Contrary to early predictions that ads would only appear after a back-and-forth dialogue, these triggered immediately on the first prompt response." "Notably, the UI features a prominent brand favicon and a \"Sponsored\" label, slightly different to OpenAI's original concepts," he added."
"Well there you have it, the first sighting of ChatGPT ads in the wild. I still cannot get any to trigger across free accounts, but seems Adthena spotted one from Expedia. It's like seeing Bigfoot in the wild. :) 🔎 https://t.co/k1mF3OzoUb- Glenn Gabe (@glenngabe) February 19, 2026"
OpenAI deployed ads in ChatGPT as part of a limited rollout and an Expedia ad has been observed appearing directly within a first response to the prompt "What's the best way to book a weekend away?". The ad appeared at the bottom of the initial reply without requiring follow-up interaction. The UI displayed a prominent brand favicon and a 'Sponsored' label that differs slightly from earlier UI concepts. Reports remain scarce, most free accounts do not trigger ads, and the sighting was confirmed by a shared screenshot indicating live delivery to a subset of users.
Read at Search Engine Roundtable
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