What is the Technology?
You know how when you Google something you get a list of links and some of them are ads? Now imagine that same concept but inside a conversation with an AI assistant that feels like it is actually helping you. That is what we are looking at here.
Google's Gemini is their flagship AI model. It powers the Gemini app on Android phones, Google's AI Mode in Search, and as of this year it is also the model running behind Apple's rebuilt Siri. As of March 2026, Gemini has over 750 million monthly active users. That is double what it had just a year ago.
Unlike traditional search, Gemini works like a conversation. You ask it something in plain English and it gives you a direct answer instead of a list of blue links. That is what makes it so useful. But that is also what makes the advertising question so complicated. Google is now exploring the idea of placing sponsored recommendations directly inside those AI conversations. So when you ask your phone what shoes to buy for running, part of that answer could be paid for by a brand.
What makes this even more serious is a feature Google launched in January 2026 called Personal Intelligence. It connects Gemini to your Gmail, Google Photos, YouTube history, and Calendar. The goal is to make Gemini more personalized. But when you combine that level of personal access with advertising, the targeting goes way beyond anything traditional search ads could do. Instead of matching ads to a keyword, the AI could match ads based on your entire digital life.
Summary of the Article
Google has insisted for many months that the company has no immediate plans to put ads in Gemini. But in an interview with WIRED, Google's senior vice president of knowledge and information, Nick Fox, said the company is not ruling them out.
Fox said he expects the experience from ads in AI Mode would likely carry over to what they might want to do in the Gemini app down the road. He also made an interesting claim, saying their research shows that users actually like ads within the context of Search, and that over time they will figure out what makes sense in the Gemini app. When asked directly if Google was ruling out ads in Gemini completely, Fox said no, but that it is just not where they have been focusing. He described it as more of a prioritization question.
The article notes that Google has spent the past year racing to catch up with OpenAI in the AI chatbot market and those efforts appear to be paying off. Gemini now has more than 750 million monthly active users compared to the 350 million it had in March of last year. The question for both companies now is how to make money from free users. In January, OpenAI announced it would start testing ads on ChatGPT's free tier in the United States. Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis tried to shut down that speculation at Davos the following week, telling reporters the company did not have any plans to put ads in Gemini.
Instead of putting ads directly in Gemini, Google is testing ads in AI Mode, the Search product powered by Gemini. Fox noted that Google's business is doing quite well, with 2025 being the company's first year generating more than 400 billion dollars in revenue, so it does not have to rush to monetize Gemini. He said that puts Google at an advantage compared to OpenAI, which reportedly aims to more than double its 30 billion dollar revenue in 2026.
On the competition side, the article mentions that Anthropic took the opposite route, running a Super Bowl commercial taking a jab at OpenAI and the potentially disastrous impact of ads in AI. That sparked a broader conversation around how the AI industry can do ads in a way that is helpful and preserves privacy. In February, Perplexity executives said they would stop experimenting with ads in its AI partly because of the impact on user trust.
The article also brought up Personal Intelligence, a feature Google launched in January that allows Gemini to reference a user's Gmail, Photos, and Calendar to generate contextual responses. Fox said it is still to be determined whether Personal Intelligence will make it into traditional Search but noted that personalizing Search has long been his holy grail. When asked how ads would interact with Personal Intelligence, Fox said they do not sell data to advertisers and that private information would remain private. But he acknowledged they still need to figure out how ad targeting can be consistent with the organic response.
How Does It Apply to Mobile Development?
I know what you are thinking, how does this affect the mobile industry? If you read my first blog post about Apple rebuilding Siri, you already know where I am going with this.
I talked about how the operating system itself is becoming smart enough to do things that used to require a separate app. Write emails, organize photos, control settings, all through conversation. That alone is a problem for developers building simple utility apps. Now imagine the AI assistant is also recommending sponsored products and services while it does all of that. You are not just competing against the operating system anymore. You are competing against companies that paid to be recommended by the operating system.
Think about how most people find apps today. They go to the App Store or Google Play, type in what they are looking for, and scroll through the results. Developers spend a lot of time and money optimizing their app listings to show up in those searches. But if people stop searching app stores and start asking their AI assistant instead, that whole system changes. Someone asks their phone for a good budgeting app and the AI recommends one that paid to be there. That is a completely new barrier for smaller developers who cannot afford to buy their way into an AI recommendation.
The trust issue is what concerns me the most though. When you Google something, you know some of the results are ads. You have trained yourself to scroll past them or at least take them with a grain of salt. But when an AI assistant that sounds like it genuinely knows you recommends something during a conversation, it does not feel like an ad. It feels like advice. And that is a much harder thing to filter out. Developers who are building apps that integrate with these AI assistants need to be thinking about this now, because the line between a helpful recommendation and a paid placement is about to get very blurry.
My Opinion
As always, I have a lot of opinions and this time I have mix feeling about the idea. It’s not that simple for me. I will focus on what I think matters most advantages vs disadvantages.
Let’s start with advantages, I like the idea of being served relevant ads. Nothing is more annoying than seeing unrelated ads repeatedly.
There are many times when I am served an ad and I made a purchase and it turned into a perfect gift idea or a little side project. I would have never thought of that idea without some sort of personalized ad.
As for the disadvantages ads can get out of hand and it most likely will. For example, Google search on mobile. When I search for almost anything on Google. I’m served with multiple sponsored Google My Business then Google Ads links then I am served with Organic listings.
Another example is YouTube, Youtube serves so many ads for their videos it’s become worse than traditional cable tv. I understand that the content creators can decide on the rate of ads but this just proves my point.
Lastly, the most important disadvantage which may sound like a contradiction to one of my advantage reasons why I liked targeted ads. It’s nice to have relevant products or services ads served to you but what happens to a people who don’t have control and overspend. Every ad they see is exactly what they want, and it amplifies their spending addiction because everything they see is very specific to their needs.
Reference:
According to a March 2026 interview by WIRED, Google Is Not Ruling Out Ads in Gemini
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