Perplexity is reportedly stepping back from advertising in its AI search service, with executives citing concerns that ads could undermine users’ confidence in its answers. A Perplexity executive said at a press roundtable that the company was not exploring advertising deals at the time.
The company began experimenting with ads in 2024, including sponsored placements beneath chatbot answers. It reportedly began winding down the experiment in 2025.
A Perplexity executive was also quoted as saying that users needed to believe they were receiving the best possible answer to continue using the service and be willing to pay for it.
AI companies take different approaches to advertising
OpenAI began testing ads in ChatGPT on February 9, 2026, for logged-in adults in the United States using its Free and paid Go tiers. Its announced format places clearly labeled ads below answers. OpenAI says advertising does not influence ChatGPT’s responses. The company excluded Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise and Education accounts from the test.
Google has introduced ads into its AI-powered search features. In October 2024, it announced that ads within AI Overviews were available to U.S. mobile users. In May 2025, Google announced an expansion to U.S. desktop users and said it was beginning to test ads below and within AI Mode responses.
Anthropic said in a February 4, 2026, announcement that Claude would remain ad-free. The company argued that advertising could introduce incentives that conflict with providing a helpful assistant, including when ads appear separately from responses. Anthropic says it generates revenue through enterprise contracts and paid subscriptions, and acknowledged that other AI companies could reasonably choose different approaches.
