ChatGPT made an unwelcome suggestion about the Peloton app during a conversation, sparking backlash from OpenAI customers. People were worried that ads would reach even paying customers. However, OpenAI has made it clear that the app proposal is not an advertisement, but rather a lame attempt to integrate app discovery functionality within conversations.
In a post on X that has since been viewed about 462,000 times, Yuchen Jin, co-founder of AI startup Hyperbolic, shared a screenshot that appears to show ChatGPT suggesting a Peloton app connection in an unrelated conversation. To make matters worse, Jin discovered that he was a paid subscriber to ChatGPT’s $200/month pro plan. You can’t expect advertising in that price range.
The post was re-shared and saved hundreds of times across X and garnered considerable attention as it appeared to indicate that OpenAI was testing ad insertion into paid products. Users complained that paying customers especially don’t need to see app suggestions like this.
One person also pointed out that they were unable to get ChatGPT to stop recommending Spotify, despite being an Apple Music subscriber.
Daniel McCauley, data lead for ChatGPT at OpenAI, later jumped into the thread to clarify that Peloton’s listing was not an ad. It “simply suggested that I install the Peloton app.” He said there was “no financial component” to the app’s proposal.
However, the “lack of relevance” to the conversations made them an unpleasant and confusing experience, and OpenAI admitted it was iterating on the suggestions and user experience.
A company spokesperson also confirmed to TechCrunch that what users discovered was one of the ways OpenAI was “testing showing apps in ChatGPT conversations.” They pointed to a new app platform that OpenAI announced in October, which the company said will “naturally blend” into users’ conversations.
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“You can find[apps]by letting ChatGPT suggest them at the right time or by calling them by name. The apps respond to natural language and include an interactive interface that can be used directly within a chat,” the post explains.
But that doesn’t seem to be the case here, as users claim that nothing related to health and fitness is discussed. Instead, they were chatting with the AI about a podcast featuring Elon Musk, as the screenshot shows. xAI was a hot topic there. Incorporating Peloton into this experience was unhelpful and distracting.
But even if the app’s suggestions were relevant, users may still see it as an ad, given that it’s directing people to a company’s product that isn’t free. Additionally, users cannot turn off suggestions for these apps, which can be more annoying.
This user sentiment could potentially impact OpenAI’s desire to replace the App Store experience and apps running on the phone with integrated apps running within ChatGPT. If users don’t want to see your app’s suggestions, they can also switch to a competitor’s chatbot to avoid it.
The ChatGPT app is currently available to logged-in users outside the EU, Switzerland, and the UK, but the integration is still in pilot testing. OpenAI partners with many app makers, including Booking.com, Canva, Coursera, Figma, Expedia, and Zillow.
