Google Starts Showing Ads Inside AI Mode for the First Time

If you loved Google’s clean, ad-free AI Mode so far, you won’t like this news at all. All this while, Search users feared one thing: ads. Well, it has started appearing inside the AI Mode interface, like it or not.

For years, traditional Google Search has been flooded with ads, often pushing organic results further and further down the page. AI Mode felt like a refreshing escape, thanks to quick answers, fewer distractions, and zero sponsored noise. But, not anymore.

The latest changes were spotted by @gsterling on X inside Google’s AI Labs (image on the left). However, citing the former, @brodieseo shared a post on X notes that ads are now viewable outside of the experimental interface (image on the right).

As seen in the shared screenshots above, Google is now placing sponsored cards directly under AI Mode responses. The placement mirrors the ads that first appeared in AI Overviews earlier this year, sitting right below organic link cards and clearly marked with the “Sponsored” label.

While it’s frustrating, the news doesn’t come as a surprise to me at all. Google has been vocal about bringing ads into AI experiences. All that said, the big question is whether ads will start appearing inside the AI answer itself. At this point, ad cards appear under organic results inside AI Mode.

So, what do you think about ads in AI Mode? Don’t forget to share your thoughts with us below.

via: Bleeping Computer