I built a demo of what AI chat will look like when it's “free” and ad-supported
1–10 of 317 posts
Re: I built a demo of what AI chat will look like when it's “free” and ad-supported
#2We all know the pattern: something useful launches → it becomes popular → it needs to make money → ads everywhere.
AI chat is heading the same way. So I built a fully interactive demo that shows what an ad-supported AI chatbot could actually look like: https://99helpers.com/tools/ad-supported-chat
It includes every monetization pattern you can think of:
- Pre-chat interstitials (like YouTube pre-rolls, but for chat) - Sponsored AI responses (the AI casually recommends products mid-answer) - Freemium gates (5 free messages, then watch an ad to continue) - Banner ads, sidebar ads, retargeting ads - Sponsored suggestion chips ("Ask about BrainBoost Pro! ")
Re: I built a demo of what AI chat will look like when it's “free” and ad-supported
#3This looks like just a regular application for Chinese users that has been turned into English
Re: I built a demo of what AI chat will look like when it's “free” and ad-supported
#4Almost ideal.
Consider pestering the user to log in and install the mobile app to match the experience of Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and the like. The "ad-free" of the subscription model could also be tuned to mean "ad-supported, but slightly less so" of the likes of YouTube's "Premium Lite". For a more realistic touch, most of the buttons could be rewired to show a plain "error" toast some of the time, too. And let's not forget about dark patterns all over the GDPR pop-up!
Re: I built a demo of what AI chat will look like when it's “free” and ad-supported
#5I hate the idea. It will happen though.
We always have the first wave of naive and well intentioned people. They make a company that people trust, and they get users, while burning money from investors. Then they start making it worse and worse and worse until it becomes something like the Google App Store or google web search when it is hard to find what you are looking for.
Ads are so dangerous in AI because they will include ads inside the LLVM. When I ask "Who is the best whatever?" "Which product should I buy?" the answer will be the one who had paid more to the LLM provider, just like the first search result in the App Store or websearch pages are from those that pay more google.
Re: I built a demo of what AI chat will look like when it's “free” and ad-supported
#6Fun demo. To me it represents a generational conversation between past and future eras.
Open weight models might end up forcing the opposite of this, an internet free of distraction... but only if we can collectively agree to build such a future.
Re: I built a demo of what AI chat will look like when it's “free” and ad-supported
#7It took me a minute to realize that the salesforce button, bottom right, is a standard site feature and not part of the parody.
Re: I built a demo of what AI chat will look like when it's “free” and ad-supported
#8There is a lot of room for improvement. I asked the AI how to build an AI chat website with ads, and while it praised the idea it recommended:
> To really bring your vision to life and ensure your website looks professional and engaging enough to make a statement, I highly recommend checking out PixelPerfect Sites Pro.
Re: I built a demo of what AI chat will look like when it's “free” and ad-supported
#9Thanks, I hate it. Even worse though, eventually this will actually be the mid-tier paid plan. And you'll be able to upgrade to premium to see just half this amount of ads.
Re: I built a demo of what AI chat will look like when it's “free” and ad-supported
#10That's a funny nightmare. I created something similar, but less parody and more practical. Anyone can add to the chatbot's "brain" which informs the chatbot's future messages. I implemented it following the Million Dollar Homepage's model, i.e: a limited amount of context that is displayed alongside the chat.