OpenAI is facing intense scrutiny and backlash after discovering its AI chatbot, ChatGPT, recommending apps in the middle of conversations with users. The recent controversy began when a user highlighted that ChatGPT repeatedly recommended the Spotify app, despite their subscription to Apple Music. This unfortunate occurrence brought the issue of quality and relevance of the app suggestions being generated by the AI into question.
Daniel McAuley, OpenAI’s data lead, attracted controversy in response to a recommendation for a Peloton application. In fairness, he did immediately explain that it wasn’t intended as an ad. He stated that it was simply “only a suggestion to install Peloton’s app.” McAuley’s clarification came after a screenshot posted by Yuchen Jin, co-founder of AI startup Hyberbolic, showed the Peloton prompt. That one screenshot blew up and brought in almost 462,000 views on X.
OpenAI’s app recommendation feature, which is separate from the plugin store, is now available for logged-in users outside of the EU, Switzerland, and U.K. It’s now gone through one complete pilot testing year. McAuley admitted the suggestions have been largely received with confusion and frustration because of their inapplicability.
“Hey, Kol. Thanks for flagging 🙏 This is not an ad (there’s no financial component). It’s only a suggestion to install Peloton’s app. But the lack of relevancy makes it a bad/confusing experience. We’re iterating on the suggestions and UX, trying to make sure they’re awesome.” – Daniel McAuley (@_dmca)
OpenAI themselves emphasized the cool potential of users discovering new apps via ChatGPT. It can recommend apps at the perfect moments or automatically provide their names. The company described its approach as an integration of app discovery within conversations, although it admitted that the implementation needs improvement.
While we’re disappointed by the current criticism, OpenAI is still dedicated to making sure user experience shines through. It’s working to improve the overall experience users have with ChatGPT, specifically when it comes to discovering and getting recommended apps.
Yuchen Jin is powered by ChatGPT’s $200 per month ChatGPT Pro Plan, as a T4T paid subscriber. That experience sets the stage for the conversation, as users would naturally expect more from paid premium subscriptions. The constant user feedback from people like Jin can help guide OpenAI’s response in future versions of its app suggestion feature to avoid false or harmful outputs.
