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经济学人|AI 软件靠什么赚钱?
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AI 软件靠什么赚钱？
素材来源：The Economist｜Apr 19th 2026
✦ 原文预览
Chatbots are employed every day as teachers, counsellors, coders and escorts. Now they are taking on another role: salesmen. Advertisements are popping up ever more frequently in users’ conversations with large language models, punctuating chats with promotions. Consumers’ search queries, editing sessions and even intimate moments are increasingly at risk of interruption by sponsored messages.
As chatbots become adbots, the future of two industries is at stake. For the artificial-intelligence business, ads represent a way to monetise a wildly expensive invention that most people currently use free of charge. For the ad industry, adbots are a possible answer to the existential question of how advertising will work if users move away from conventional search engines. Although it is early days, the outlines of a new kind of marketing are emerging.
Many of the AI giants are piling in. In February OpenAI said it would begin testing ads in ChatGPT, the most widely used chatbot. Google has been trialling them in its search engine’s “AI Mode” since last year, and Microsoft has woven them into its Copilot. Amazon’s shopping assistant, Rufus, allows brands to sponsor its replies. Meta’s chatbot does not yet show ads, but since December it has been passing on insights from chats to its sister companies, Facebook and Instagram, to help them serve better-targeted plugs.
For OpenAI, which reportedly expects to burn $25bn of cash this year and twice as much in 2027, the need for more revenue is acute. Although it sells subscriptions, most of ChatGPT’s more than 900m weekly users are on its free tier. Ads are a way to make money from them.
ChatGPT is showing ads in only about 1% of conversations, and Google in an even smaller share of AI Mode queries. But they are due to rise fast. OpenAI is said to have told investors that it expects ChatGPT to generate $2.5bn in ad revenue this year and $11bn in 2027, with a goal of hitting $100bn by 2030.
ChatGPT, by contrast, bides its time. Less than half its ads come in the chatbot’s first response, and nearly a third come after the tenth turn in the conversation—like a shop assistant waiting for the customer’s intent to become clear before they make their pitch. “This is not search. This is a new category of advertising,” argues Harel Amir of Similarweb.
ChatGPT’s targeting sometimes seems sophisticated: for instance, advertising job-interview coaching to a user drafting a professional email. At other times it is comically literal. One user asking about cryptographic “private keys” was served an ad for metal safety-boxes from Bed Bath & Beyond.
Some competitors have steered clear of sponsored replies, fearing these will hurt trust: in February Perplexity stopped showing ads and Anthropic skewered its ad-toting rivals with a series of skits showing therapists and professors suddenly launching into sales pitches. Yet Similarweb finds that 72% of ads shown on ChatGPT are not on the final turn of the conversation—in other words, users keep chatting. Conversations incorporating ads last an average of about 20 turns, the same as those without.
For advertisers, AI ads present two challenges. The first is measurement. If users keep chatting rather than clicking through, “post-view attribution”—the murky science of determining whether a user eventually buys the product elsewhere—will become the main way to assess a campaign’s effectiveness. The second challenge is brand safety. Letting a chatbot write its own creative copy is a gamble. Personalised ads have proved to be more effective than generic ones. Companies may nevertheless be wary of a silicon salesman who could hallucinate a deal too good to be true.
你有没有注意到，AI 软件的大规模商业化已经成为了一个趋势，无论是豆包开始收费，还是 GPT 的广告业务。AI 广告正在悄悄渗透进我们每一次对话。这篇来自《经济学人》的文章，拆解了”AI 变身销售员”背后的商业逻辑——谁在做、怎么做、效果如何，以及广告主面临的新挑战。
今天我们挑出其中最值得学的几个段落，看看这篇文章的英语怎么写得既犀利又有画面感。
Chatbots are employed every day as teachers, counsellors, coders and escorts. Now they are taking on another role: salesmen. Advertisements are punctuating chats with promotions. Consumers’ search queries, editing sessions and even intimate moments are increasingly at risk of interruption by sponsored messages.
AI 一直扮演着各种角色——老师、心理顾问、程序员、陪聊助手。但现在，它又多了一个新身份：销售员。广告开始频繁插入用户的对话，不管你是在搜索信息、改文案，还是处于某种私密时刻，赞助内容随时可能冒出来打断你。
phrasal verb
take on
to begin to have or do something new; to accept a new role or responsibility
承担、扮演（新角色）；接手（新任务）
用法：take on 后面接角色、任务、性质都很自然。它比 become 或 have 更有动态感，暗示主动承接、有意识地转变。
Since the merger, the company has taken on a more aggressive sales strategy.
并购之后，这家公司开始采用更激进的销售策略。
v.
punctuate
to interrupt something repeatedly at intervals
不断打断、点缀其中（带有规律性的插入感）
用法：本义是”加标点”，引申为在某个过程中反复插入某事。用在这里，广告像标点一样嵌在对话里，选词非常精准。
同义替换：interrupt
His speech was punctuated by bursts of applause.
他的演讲不时被掌声打断。
As chatbots become adbots, the future of two industries is at stake. For the artificial-intelligence business, ads represent a way to monetise a wildly expensive invention that most people currently use free of charge. For the ad industry, adbots are a possible answer to the existential question of how advertising will work if users move away from conventional search engines.
当聊天机器人变成广告机器人，两个行业的未来都压上去了。对 AI 公司来说，广告是把一个烧钱无底洞变现的方式——毕竟大多数人免费用着它。对广告行业来说，AI 聊天可能是搜索引擎时代结束后的一条出路。文章用了一个词：existential question——这不是一个普通的难题，是那种”答错了就可能消失”的生死之问。
idiom
at stake
at risk of being lost or damaged; critically dependent on the outcome
处于危险中；成败在此一举
用法：常用于强调某件事的结果至关重要，带有紧迫感和压力感。后面通常接”名誉、未来、利益”这类重要事物。
With millions of jobs at stake, the government had no choice but to intervene.
数百万个工作岗位岌岌可危，政府别无选择，只能出手干预。
adj.
existential
relating to existence; threatening the very survival or purpose of something
关乎存亡的；触及根基的
用法：在媒体和商业写作中，existential threat / crisis / question 是固定高频搭配，表示那种动摇根基、威胁整体存在的问题，远比 serious 或 major 有力量。
同义替换：fundamental
Climate change poses an existential threat to many island nations.
气候变化对许多岛国来说是关乎生死存亡的威胁。
Many of the AI giants are piling in. In February OpenAI said it would begin testing ads in ChatGPT. Google has been trialling them in its AI Mode since last year, and Microsoft has woven them into its Copilot. Amazon’s Rufus allows brands to sponsor its replies. Meta’s chatbot does not yet show ads, but since December it has been passing on insights from chats to Facebook and Instagram to help them serve better-targeted plugs.
OpenAI、谷歌、微软、亚马逊、Meta——几乎所有 AI 巨头都在往这个方向走，只是各有各的打法。OpenAI 测试原生广告，谷歌在搜索的 AI 模式里嵌入广告，亚马逊让品牌赞助购物助手的回答，Meta 暂时没有直接打广告，但已经在悄悄把聊天数据传给旗下的 Facebook 和 Instagram，用来做精准投放。
phrasal verb
pile in
to get involved in something enthusiastically and in large numbers
蜂拥而入；争相加入
用法：有一种”大家都挤进来”的画面感，带着抢占先机、不甘落后的意味。用在科技报道里，表示赛道突然变热、各方争相入场，比 join 生动得多。
同义替换：rush in
As soon as the market opened up, investors piled in from all directions.
市场一开放，投资者从四面八方涌了进来。
Chatgpt, by contrast, bides its time. Less than half its ads come in the chatbot’s first response, and nearly a third come after the tenth turn in the conversation—like a shop assistant waiting for the customer’s intent to become clear before they make their pitch.
与谷歌把广告塞在第一条回复里不同，ChatGPT 更像一个有耐心的销售员——它等着你聊了十几个来回，摸清楚你真正想要什么，再开口推销。《经济学人》这里用了一个非常妙的比喻：就像实体店员工，不会一进门就扑上来，而是等你在货架前流连够了，才走过来说”我可以帮你”。
idiom
bide one’s time
to wait patiently for the right moment to act
静待时机；耐心等候
用法：带有一种老练、沉得住气的感觉，暗示有策略地按兵不动，等最好的时机出手。用在这里形容 ChatGPT 的广告策略，极其传神。
同义替换：wait for the right moment
She didn’t respond immediately—she was biding her time until she had all the facts.
她没有立刻回应，而是等到掌握了全部事实才出手。
idiom
make one’s pitch
to present your sales argument or proposal at a carefully chosen moment
开口推销；做出推介
用法：pitch 在商业语境里指一次有目的的推销或说服，make one’s pitch 特指选择时机主动出击。常见于销售、创业融资、广告等场景。
After weeks of preparation, he finally made his pitch to the investors.
准备了好几周之后，他终于向投资人做了推介。
Chatgpt’s targeting sometimes seems sophisticated: for instance, advertising job-interview coaching to a user drafting a professional email. At other times it is comically literal. One user asking about cryptographic “private keys” was served an ad for metal safety-boxes from Bed Bath & Beyond.
ChatGPT 的广告投放有时确实很聪明——比如用户正在写求职邮件，它给你推面试辅导课，这个逻辑说得通。但有时候又显得像个字面理解机器：有人问密码学里的”private keys”（私钥），系统直接给他推了一款金属保险箱。comically literal——这两个词放在一起真的很妙，一个形容词带着苦笑，戳穿了 AI 有时候的呆气。
adj. 搭配
comically literal
interpreting something in an overly strict, word-for-word way that produces an absurd or funny result
呆板到好笑；可笑地字面理解
用法：literal 本指”字面的、照字面理解的”，加上 comically（滑稽地）之后，专门描述那种”太死板以至于显得荒谬”的情形，带有轻松的讽刺感。
The translation was comically literal—”raining cats and dogs” became a scene of actual animals falling from the sky.
那个翻译呆得可笑，”倾盆大雨”直接被译成了猫和狗从天而降。
Some competitors have steered clear of sponsored replies, fearing these will hurt trust. Yet Similarweb finds that 72% of ads shown on Chatgpt are not on the final turn—in other words, users keep chatting. Conversations incorporating ads last an average of about 20 turns, the same as those without. Users do not seem to be repelled by ads.
有些竞争对手——比如 Perplexity——选择完全不做广告，怕破坏用户信任。Anthropic 甚至专门拍了一组讽刺短片，模拟治疗师和教授在正经对话中突然开始推销产品。但数据说了另一件事：ChatGPT 上 72% 的广告出现后，用户没有结束对话；含广告的对话平均长度和不含广告的一样，都是 20 轮左右。
phrasal verb
steer clear of
to deliberately avoid someone or something
刻意回避；绕开
用法：来自航海语境（转向避开障碍），现在广泛用于日常英语，表示主动选择不接触某事或某人，带有一种谨慎、有意识的回避感，比 avoid 更有画面感。
同义替换：avoid
After the argument, she steered clear of him for weeks.
吵架之后，她好几个星期都刻意躲着他。
v.
repel
to cause someone to feel strong dislike or aversion; to drive away
令人反感；使人退却
用法：描述人的反应时，带有强烈的排斥感，远比 dislike 有力度。这里用 not repelled by ads，双重否定制造了一种意外感——”广告竟然没让用户跑掉”。
同义替换：put off
Many customers were repelled by the aggressive sales tactics.
许多顾客被这种强硬的推销方式吓退了。
For advertisers, AI ads present two challenges. The first is measurement. If users keep chatting rather than clicking through, “post-view attribution”—the murky science of determining whether a user eventually buys the product elsewhere—will become the main way to assess a campaign’s effectiveness. The second challenge is brand safety. Letting a chatbot write its own creative copy is a gamble. Personalised ads have proved to be more effective than generic ones. Companies may nevertheless be wary of a silicon salesman who could hallucinate a deal too good to be true.
对广告主来说，AI 广告带来两个棘手问题。第一是效果衡量：用户看了广告继续聊天，不点击跳转，那怎么知道这条广告有没有用？只能靠一种模糊的归因方式，判断用户后来有没有在别处下单。第二是品牌安全：如果让 AI 自己生成广告文案，谁来保证它不说出什么奇怪的东西？毕竟个性化广告效果更好，但一个会”幻觉”出子虚乌有优惠的 AI 销售员，让品牌方很难完全放心。
✦ 金句赏析
“Companies may nevertheless be wary of a silicon salesman who could hallucinate a deal too good to be true.”
这是全文最精彩的一句。silicon salesman——硅基销售员，既点明了 AI 的本质，又带着一丝讽刺。hallucinate 是 AI 领域的专有术语，指模型”凭空编造信息”，但这里把它活用成了动词：一个能”幻觉出”一个好到不像真的交易的销售员。too good to be true 是英语里最经典的习语之一，偏偏和 hallucinate 撞在一起，让这句话同时完成了技术批评和文学修辞，读完会心一笑。