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Neither AI nor ads.

The problem started with search, and was weaponized by Amazon.

Display ads go back at least 100 years. A century ago, the idea was simple: Show up in a place where people are offering up attention and tell a story. The advertiser pays the media for the attention they’re using, and the consumer may find interest, amusement or, at the very least, tolerance for the fact that the media cost them less than it would without the ads.

Direct Marketing, named by the late Lester Wunderman, took the idea much further. This is action advertising. Measured. Direct marketing keeps score, and quickly evolves into something targeted and far more useful. Classified ads are direct, as is effective non-junk mail.

Google built an empire on this idea. When you do a search for left-handed widgets, the sellers of those widgets know that this is a great place to invest in running an ad. Google built an effective measurement tool, and soon, $1 ad buys became million-dollar ad buys. If it works, do it more.

But Amazon turned this into a tax. By incorporating barely concealed ads as search results, they corrupted the value of their shopping search engine. They confused consumers at the same time they stole margin from suppliers and ultimately increased the price that everyone pays for just about everything. Amazon sellers don’t want to buy more ads. In fact, they only do it because they have no choice.

When AI starts to incorporate ads, the corruption and lack of trust will only increase.

Permission marketing is the idea that we can deliver anticipated, personal and relevant ads to the people who want to get them. When I built this idea in 1992, it recognized that attention was precious and that trust was at the heart of every sustainable business. When you burn trust to get attention, you end up with nothing of value.

AI and search ads are about confusing and tricking users, burning trust and ultimately taxing any entity that is willing to pay money for attention–particularly those that feel they have no choice. The AI won’t recommend the best choice–it’ll point to the highest bidder. And the more they conceal that fact, the more money they’ll make. For a while.

AI companies say they are trying to be a trusted, independent tool. Ads are optimized when we benefit from the stories they tell. AI ads ruin both.

It’s unlikely that this will be regulated any time soon, but AI brands that want to earn the benefit of the doubt would be wise to do what early magazines, modern TV and even the Yellow Pages did–make it crystal clear that the ads are the ads. They work best when we know what they are and we want them there–and worst when we forget that search is a tool, not another chance to hustle customers.

Of course, with alternatives just a click away, they’re not going to have much luck clearly labeling the ads as ads. That’s why Google ultimately corrupted their clear division between the two–every time you make the line more blurry, revenue goes up.

We don’t need more hustle. We need more trust.

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