AI LLMs are Becoming Ad Networks
If you’ve been keeping one eye on the future while trying to keep CAC under $50, you may have noticed that large language models (LLMs) aren’t just productivity tools. They’re quietly building the next great ad platforms. And they’re doing it fast.
In early 2025, OpenAI rolled out public web browsing in ChatGPT for everyone using GPT-4, and one of the first major platforms to integrate with it was Shopify. A user could type “Find me a summer dress under $100” or “What’s the best electric toothbrush?” or “What shoes should I buy for a week in London during the month of May?” and ChatGPT doesn’t just answer, it shops. It browses real-time Shopify listings and serves product recommendations inside the chat. The interface feels less like Google Shopping and more like a really convincing friend who already did the research for you.
And while this might feel niche right now, we’ve seen this playbook before.This is what Google Ads looked like in 2001. This is Facebook before the Power Editor. Some tech companies are already “looking ahead to conversion tracking and data on purchase conversions via ChatGPT and other LLMs,” posted Brett Fish in the Foxwell Founders Advertisers Membership. Except this time, the ad unit is a sentence, the click is a suggestion, and the auction hasn’t even started yet.
What This Means for Advertisers
LLMs are going to change how people discover products. That’s the part to watch. Right now, people use Google or social media to get ideas, compare options, and find recommendations. But increasingly, they’re asking LLMs, especially for high-intent, low-effort categories like CPG, apparel, fitness, and home goods.
What’s different? These chats don’t return a search result page or an ad carousel. They return an actual answer, with linked sources. And pretty soon, some of those answers will be paid for. Here’s where it’s going:
Sponsored results will blend into AI answers. Just like the top of a Google results page or the first scroll of a TikTok feed, expect paid placement to show up inside AI-generated answers. “Here are a few great gym bags—by the way, this one is sponsored.”
LLMs will become decision engines. These models aren’t just telling people what to buy, they’re guiding the decision-making process—often better than a landing page or a UGC ad.
Brands will fight to be the top recommendation. Whether it’s through bidding, product feed optimization, or fine-tuned conversational agents, there’s already a battle brewing to be “LLM findable.”
The Shopify integration makes this concrete. ChatGPT can now browse and recommend over 1.75 million merchants in real time. The only thing missing? A way for brands to pay to show up more often. And that’s almost certainly coming.
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Five Things Advertisers Should Do Now
This shift is early—but the people who take it seriously now will have a huge head start. Here are five steps to future-proof your business:
Start Thinking About LLM SEO
This is real and coming fast. Think: how do you make your product catalog, brand story, and customer reviews easy for a model to find, read, and interpret?
Use structured data (JSON-LD, schema markup)
Add clear, specific product descriptions
Include common question-answer formats on your site (“What’s the difference between X and Y?”)
Think conversationally, not just keyword-stuffed
2. Audit Your Product Feed Quality
Whether you’re on Shopify, BigCommerce, or WooCommerce, your feed data is now part of how LLMs understand you.
Make sure titles and descriptions are human-readable
Include attributes like color, use case, price, and social proof
Fix any broken or outdated metadata
3. Experiment with LLM Tools as a User
Want to understand how the game is played? Try playing it.
Ask ChatGPT or Perplexity to recommend products in your category
See which brands show up and why
Ask follow-up questions like a customer would
Take notes on tone, clarity, and which formats LLMs seem to prioritize
4. Prepare for Branded Agents
Very soon, brands will have their own LLM agents—chatbots that live inside ecosystems like OpenAI or Anthropic.
These agents will act like sales reps, customer service reps, and content engines all in one
If your brand has deep FAQs, product knowledge, or educational content, now’s the time to structure it well and train an AI on it
5. Follow the Money
Watch how Perplexity, OpenAI, Meta, Google, and Shopify evolve.
Perplexity is already testing sponsored link placements (hello, early ad network)
Shopify’s connection to ChatGPT gives it a new traffic source—and incentive to monetize it
Meta is investing in AI-powered customer interactions (remember “Meta AI” coming to Instagram search?)
Whoever owns the interface for commercial intent will sell the access
6. Connect with other like-minded advertising professionals and colleagues to discuss this ever-changing space of AI and marketing
There are a handful of good memberships, communities, and groups to discuss marketing and AI, but our favorite (we’re biased) is the Foxwell Founders Membership. Seriously, give it a try, and if you don’t like it after the first month, we’ll give you a full refund.
As a Meta marketer, you don’t need to pivot everything right now. But you should be aware: user behavior is changing. Search isn’t disappearing—but it is splintering. And LLMs are taking a growing piece of high-intent queries that used to go to Google.In a few years, digital advertising will be more than just social + search. It will be social + search + chat.And chat doesn’t come with ad placements—yet. But when it does, you’ll want to be ready.