“We continue to make enhancements to the Rufus experience, including improving brand and product discovery by introducing relevant sponsored ads that help customers discover selections related to their conversation with Rufus,” a spokesperson said.

The ads in Rufus test recalls Microsoft’s experiments inserting ads into Copilot, the chatbot in Bing and the company’s other properties, including Windows. AI being the costly endeavor that it is, it’s not exactly surprising that companies are looking for tried-and-true methods to generate a return on investment — or at least break even.