Ads in AI Chatbots? An Analysis of How Large Language Models Navigate Conflicts of Interest

ArXi:2604.08525v1 Announce Type: cross Today's large language models (LLMs) are trained to align with user preferences through methods such as reinforcement learning. Yet models are beginning to be deployed not merely to satisfy users, but also to generate revenue for the companies that created them through advertisements. This creates the potential for LLMs to face conflicts of interest, where the most beneficial response to a user may not be aligned with the company's incentives.