Time Magazine is reportedly serving hidden "brand messages" to AI crawlers to influence chatbot responses, a strategy designed to shape how artificial intelligence models discuss specific commercial products.

Key Points

• Time Magazine is injecting brand-focused content into web pages specifically for AI crawlers rather than human visitors.
• The strategy aims to influence the output of large language models like ChatGPT to favor specific brands.
• Google-owned bots are excluded from this practice to avoid potential search engine penalties for cloaking content.
• Freelance developer Vincent Schmalbach first uncovered the technique, which was subsequently reported by Digiday and The Register.
• Ad tech executive Jonah Goodhart suggests that influencing AI models provides a broader reach than traditional human-targeted advertising campaigns.

Why it Matters

This practice signals a shift in digital marketing as companies attempt to manipulate the training data and conversational outputs of generative AI. It raises significant questions regarding the transparency of AI-generated information and the potential for brands to covertly influence public perception through automated systems.