Microsoft yesterday confirmed that more ads will be coming to Bing’s AI-powered chatbot, according to a blog post by corporate vice president Yusuf Mehdi. The move is not entirely surprising, as Microsoft has been testing ads on Bing for some time now. In fact, ads have been part of the chat experience since the preview launched in February, appearing as sponsored links and inside shopping results. However, the recent announcement confirms that more ads will be rolled out in the chat experience as well.

Caitlin Roulston, a director of communications at Microsoft, confirmed the change, stating that ads will show in the new Bing, specifically in chat, as they do in the traditional search results. She added that since the new Bing is still in preview, there may be some variability in how it currently appears. Microsoft is still exploring new opportunities for ad experiences and will share more over time.

It is still unclear what the volume of ads will be or how Microsoft will decide whether to show an ad or source a response directly from a publisher or website. Mehdi mentioned in the blog post that Microsoft wants to share the ad revenue with partners whose content contributed to the chat response. However, it remains to be seen how Microsoft plans to strike a balance between ad and non-ad responses. The inclusion of ads will likely add to the already difficult cognitive load of determining whether a given response can be trusted.

It is worth noting that the chatbot is still in preview, and Microsoft is likely to make changes to the ad experience as it receives feedback from users. The example shared by Debarghya Das shows citations with a small “Ad” box that appears to link back to Bing, which seems like a logical way for Microsoft to mark an ad. If that is the experience everyone eventually sees, it may not be too obtrusive.

If you want to try and see a Bing Chat ad for yourself, you can sign up for the waitlist. The waitlist is likely to move quickly, and you can get an idea of what the new ads might look like when they are rolled out. In any case, the addition of ads to the Bing chatbot is a reminder that without ads, it isn’t a business.