OpenAI opened self-serve ads inside ChatGPT. The mechanical read is a CPM→CPC repricing that rhymes with Snapchat 2015. The operator's read is more interesting: the targeting primitive changes.
A keyword is compressed intent: three words guessing at a need. A conversation is expanded intent: budget, constraints, context, the whole job-to-be-done, stated in natural language. Whoever buys media on this primitive without understanding it will burn budget with industrial precision.
The layer before the spend
The real work now is upstream: understanding which conversations lead to your product, how the assistant represents you, what it answers when the customer asks for alternatives. The playbook isn't written yet. Windows like this don't stay open long — then they close, and what's left is other people's case studies.
// the keyword is dead. Intent isn't: it just got wider.