The timing was striking. On February 9, 2026, OpenAI launched ads in ChatGPT. Nine days later, on February 18, Perplexity AI announced it was shutting down its own advertising programme — permanently.
The contrast could not be sharper, and the reason Perplexity gave is one that every platform experimenting with AI advertising needs to take seriously.
What Perplexity was doing
Perplexity had been experimenting with native advertising since November 2024. The formats included sponsored follow-up questions — paid prompts that appeared after an AI response, guiding users toward commercially relevant next queries — and paid sidebar placements. Brands including Whole Foods and Universal McCann participated in early tests.
Access was extremely limited. Fewer than 0.5% of brands that applied to advertise on the platform were ever admitted. The programme never reached meaningful scale.
Why they stopped
The decision came down to one word: trust.
A Perplexity executive told the Financial Times: “A user needs to believe this is the best possible answer. Once advertisements appear in results, users inevitably begin to second-guess whether responses maintain their integrity or contain subtle commercial influence.”
The company cited an Ipsos survey finding that nearly two-thirds of US adults said ads in AI search results made them trust those results less — even when the ads had no technical influence on the content of the answers.
That last point is critical. The trust damage occurred regardless of whether the ads actually affected the AI’s output. The mere presence of advertising was enough to make users doubt the neutrality of the product.
The business pivot
Rather than continuing to fight for ad revenue, Perplexity is doubling down on subscriptions and enterprise. The company is now targeting $500 million in annualised subscription revenue, positioning itself as the premium, ad-free alternative to ChatGPT and Google.
The executive who led the ads effort, Taz Patel, left the company before the programme was fully wound down.
What this tells the industry
Perplexity’s retreat does not mean GEA is doomed — but it does highlight the single greatest risk to the model: user perception. If users believe that AI answers are influenced by money, they will stop trusting AI answers. And if they stop trusting AI answers, the entire value proposition of advertising within them collapses.
OpenAI is betting that transparent labelling and strict answer independence will be enough to maintain trust while monetising through ads. Perplexity concluded that the risk was not worth taking. Both positions are rational — and the coming months will reveal which one the market rewards.
For advertisers building GEA strategies: this is not a reason to step back. It is a reason to be selective about which platforms you work with, and to monitor user sentiment closely as the medium matures.
Sources: Campaign US — Perplexity pulls the plug on ads · MacRumors — Perplexity abandons AI advertising · Search Engine Land — Perplexity stops testing advertising