OpenAI’s ChatGPT has started showing ads while it generates images, turning the wait for a picture into a new advertising slot. When a user asks the chatbot to create an image, an ad appears with the line “Here’s an ad while we create your image,” and disappears once the picture is ready. The format was announced about a month ago, but it is only now appearing for users in live conversations. The first sightings arrived today, and the ads shown are not always related to what the user asked for.
What the ad looks like
The ad is a simple holding message. It sits in the chat while the image renders, carrying the headline “Here’s an ad while we create your image,” and it vanishes the moment the picture lands in the conversation. There is no extra step for the user: the generation continues underneath, and the ad is gone when the work is done.
The first sighting was shared today by Juozas Kaziukenas, who posted a screenshot and a video of the ad appearing mid-generation. His conversation had nothing to do with dogs or pet food, yet the ad shown was for pet food.
That mismatch is a reminder that the placement is sold on the wait itself, not on the topic of the chat. Kaziukenas has a record of spotting ChatGPT ad changes early, including the ChatGPT business hub he spotted last Friday.
A month from announcement to live
OpenAI announced the new visual ad format about a month ago, saying it would show ads while ChatGPT makes images for users. The format has now moved from announcement to live product, at least for some users. That gap matters: OpenAI has been rolling out ChatGPT advertising in stages, testing formats in the open before they reach everyone.
The staging is visible across the autumn, with each format tested in the open before it reaches everyone. OpenAI widened its ChatGPT ad cards and began testing multi-image ads at the end of October, and last week it switched advertisers to target bidding and retired its maximum-bid option.
The image-generation ad is the next piece: a format that only exists because image creation takes seconds, and those seconds are now for sale. It turns dead time into inventory, and it only works because users watch the screen while they wait.
Our Read
The read is that OpenAI is monetising the pause. Image generation is one of the few moments in ChatGPT where the user simply waits, attention fixed on the screen, with nothing to read. An ad in that gap is cheap to serve and hard to ignore.
That is exactly why the slot is valuable — and exactly why it will be watched closely. If the format spreads, every waiting screen in ChatGPT becomes potential ad space, and the question becomes how much waiting users will tolerate.
The relevance question is the weak spot. The first sighting showed a pet-food ad in a conversation about something else entirely, which suggests the targeting for this slot is loose so far. If users keep seeing ads that have nothing to do with their request, the format will feel like an interruption rather than a useful suggestion.
OpenAI’s own advertising economics are already under scrutiny: recent research found ChatGPT ads earning far less per click than Google Search, so volume and attention matter more than precision for now. That puts pressure on every new slot to deliver reach, even before its targeting is tuned.
There is also a trust angle. Image generation is a creative moment, and users treat the waiting screen as part of the product, not as ad inventory. If the ad disappears cleanly and the image arrives as promised, most users will shrug.
If ads start delaying generation, or if the slot fills with low-quality promotions, the goodwill OpenAI built around image creation will take the hit. The format’s future depends on it staying invisible — a quiet holding message, not a toll on creativity.
Why It Matters
It matters because ChatGPT’s ad business is being built in public, one surface at a time. Each new slot — search-style results, wider cards, and now the image-generation wait — widens the inventory OpenAI can sell to advertisers and brands.
For a company that has bet heavily on advertising as a revenue line alongside subscriptions, the image slot is a sign of how far that bet extends. The waiting screen is now part of the business model, not just part of the product.
Background
ChatGPT advertising has moved quickly this autumn. The wider ad cards and multi-image beta arrived on 30 October, target bidding followed on 5 November, and the image-generation format now joins them as the newest live surface. OpenAI has not said when the format reaches all users, or which advertisers can buy it first.
Source: Search Engine Roundtable
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