Well, well, well. Just as we were getting cozy with our AI chatbots, sharing our deepest secrets and weirdest questions, it turns out they might be getting ready to sell us out. Not to a rival AI, but to something far more familiar and annoying: ads.

A sharp-eyed reverse engineer named Tibor Blaho dug into the latest beta version of the ChatGPT Android app and found something lurking in the code: strings for an ad system. That—s right. Hidden among the ones and zeros were clues that our pristine, conversational playground might soon be interrupted by a special offer for compression socks or a quiz to find our wizard name.

It—s the ultimate bait-and-switch. We finally teach grandma how to use ChatGPT instead of asking us every tech question, and the first thing it does is serve her an ad for a reverse mortgage. The irony is almost too perfect. We—re using a tool that can summarize ancient philosophy or write a sonnet about a toaster, and it might pause to ask if we—ve considered upgrading to a premium gecko insurance plan.

Imagine the future prompts. —ChatGPT, help me write a heartfelt breakup text.— And it replies, —I—d be happy to help you craft that sensitive message. But first, have you tried our partner—s artisanal grief ice cream? It—s clinically proven to mend broken hearts in 3-5 business days.— The path from a helpful assistant to a nagging salesbot is shorter than we thought.

So here—s your daily reminder that if something is free, you—re not the customer—you—re the product being prepared for delivery. This little code snoop is like finding the blueprint for a billboard inside your therapist—s office. It—s a nudge, maybe a shove, toward considering those local, offline AI models that run on your own machine. They might be a bit more work to set up, but the only ads you—ll get are the ones you accidentally show yourself by leaving a browser tab open. Your conversations will stay between you, your AI, and the questionable decisions you ask it to help justify.