By Cameron Wykes and Yves Le Breton

Hijacking the marketing chatter this year, artificial intelligence (AI) has been praised as much as it has been panned, with “disruption” clearly at the forefront of most conversations. Generative AI’s ability to almost magically conjure up copy and visual assets from millions of data points is as awe-inspiring as it is intimidating.

Since the first version of ChatGPT was made available, we have been forced to re-evaluate virtually every aspect of our business model to better align with the path that generative AI is taking us on. This includes adoption and incorporation of GenAI APIs, toolsets and now full enterprise applications to not only catch up, but try to forge ahead of the potential, or risk losing your competitive edge.

Casting doom and gloom aside, we look for new ways that we can make GenAI work harder and smarter for us and, in turn, our clients – finding ways to better connect the dots between the brand and its target audience, between intent and purchase.

One such development is the implementation of ChatGPT plug-ins.

Quite simply, OpenAI’s plug-ins connect the power of ChatGPT Plus with third-party partner datasets, cutting out typical search steps in the process of getting you to your desired outcome, faster. Third-party plug-ins are already available from Expedia, Shopify, OpenTable and Slack, with more being released every day.

Here’s how the Instacart plug-in works, as an example: A ChatGPT Plus user enters a prompt request “seeking the highest rated recipe for braised beef short ribs with mashed potatoes, for four people.” ChatGPT Plus not only responds with the highest rated recipe, but the Instacart plug-in has found all of the ingredients and pre-filled a shopping cart from the user’s preferred brands, dietary restrictions, number of guests into consideration for portioning of key ingredient items, etc. From there, it’s one click to place the order.

It’s clear that Large Language Model Plug-ins (LLMs) will fundamentally change how we see and use ChatGPT and other GenAI tools by intrinsically connecting branded engagement / services to virtually any relevant prompt or request. We saw this happen between 2014 and 2016 with the exponential growth of the mobile app economy.

Plug-ins are ushering in a whole new way to connect consumer needs with their intent to purchase, providing a more personalized experience through GenAI’s ability to gain a greater understanding of our preferences, preferred services and learnings from previous requests.

The landscape of artificial intelligence has taken a significant leap forward with the recent expansion of the ChatGPT plug-in store. With over 500 plug-ins available, and about 100 designed specifically to help users search the internet more efficiently, these plug-ins are pushing the boundaries of what AI can accomplish, granting users real-time access to diverse sources of information and helping them streamline previously lengthy processes. The benefits for users are faster, more accurate and more relevant answers to their queries.

ChatGPT plug-ins have the potential to fuel hyper-personalized advertising by seamlessly integrating with user conversations to analyze real-time natural language input and discern individual preferences, interests and context. These plug-ins leverage this understanding to dynamically generate targeted, branded content that resonates with users on a highly personalized level. The core value of plug-ins is to optimize branded content delivery, tailoring product recommendations, promotional offers and messaging to align precisely with users’ needs, behaviours and context, reducing friction between discovery and purchase, increasing conversion rates.

But for plug-ins to reach their full potential, ChatGPT must first make them available to all users – not just paying ones – and raise the current limit of three plug-ins per query. Once a user has downloaded a plug-in to their account, it should always be accessible by the model, it’s too cumbersome to ask users to select specific plug-ins for each query.

While ChatGPT may give copywriters the chills, its plug-ins provide brands and advertisers a way to essentially flatten the funnel, and directly attach search intent with purchase outcome in one or two clicks. This not only drives significant convenience through the reduction of product/brand research, but it provides greater relevancy by understanding the intent behind the inquiry and thus proactively anticipating the next move along the path to purchase.

Brands need to embrace AI and wrap their heads around the notion that “search” has fundamentally changed, and in turn, need to invest in understanding how their products/services can provide relevancy and value within this newly flattened sales funnel and customer journey.