Leak confirms OpenAI is preparing ads on ChatGPT for public roll out

bleepingcomputer.com

848 points by fleahunter 4 days ago

https://x.com/btibor91/status/1994714152636690834

https://xcancel.com/btibor91/status/1994714152636690834

aurareturn - 4 days ago

- ~1 billion users in just 3 years

- Extremely personal data on users

- Novel way of introducing and learning more about sponsored products

- Strong branding for non-techie people (most normal people don't know what Claude or Gemini are)

- An app that is getting more and more addictive/indispensable

I think OpenAI is going to kill it in ads eventually. This is why Meta and Google went all in on AI. Their lucrative digital ad business is in an existential threat.

I think people who kept saying there is no moat in AI is about to be shocked at how strong of a moat there actually is for ChatGPT.

All free LLM chat apps will need to support ads or they will eventually die due to worse unit economics or run out of funding.

PS. Sam just said OpenAI's revenue will finish at $20b this year. 6x growth from 2024. Zero revenue from non-sub users. What do you guys think their revenue will end up in 2026?

afavour - 4 days ago

> most normal people don't know what Claude or Gemini are
In think the point is that they don’t need to know what Gemini is, they just need to know Google, which they most definitely do.
IMO ads rollout won’t be as simple as you’re describing it. A lot of people have switched from Google search to AI specifically because it isn’t filled with SEO, ad filled nonsense. So they’ll need to tread very, very carefully to introduce it without alienating customers. Not to mention mollifying advertisers who are nervous what their product will be shown alongside and OpenAI will probably struggle to offer iron clad guarantees about it. And people generally speaking don’t like ads. If competitors like Google are able to hold out longer with no ads (they certainly aren’t wanting for ad display surfaces) they might be able to pull users away from OpenAI.
IMO pivoting to ads is a sign of core weakness for OpenAI. Anyone trying to set up their own ad network in 2025 has to reckon with Google and Meta, the two absolute behemoths of online ads. And both also happen to be major competitors of OpenAI. If they need ads that’s a problem.
- SketchySeaBeast - 4 days ago
  
  I can't wait for the instructions to start having ads embedded.
  2. Place the turkey in your GE Two in One Oven set to 350, cooking for 10 minutes a lbs.
  3. While waiting for your Turkey to finish cooking, why not have an ice cold Coke Zero? Click here for nearby locations.
  4. Remove Turkey from the oven, let rest for ten minutes while listening to Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars sing "Die with a Smile" on Spotify.
  - a4isms - 4 days ago
    
    This is where Tesla has a key advantage. Optimus can walk you to the kitchen to look for a Coke Zero. Google and OpenAI cannot compete with this.
    
    serf - 4 days ago
    
    this is one of those HN style comments where business acumen and pertinent sarcasm are wholly indistinguishable .
    
    a4isms - 3 days ago
    
    Poe's Law notwithstanding, I find it hard to believe that anyone would think I was making a good faith business acumen observation. If Optimus walks you to the kitchen to get a coke, what's Tesla's business model? Charge by the nanosecond for compute time?
    
    neilv - 3 days ago
    
    Purchase/lease access to the hardware, subscription for the necessary online connectivity, and microtransactions for each actual use of it (ostensibly because of cloud compute, and that also means surveillance data is captured and monetized).
    
    wlesieutre - 3 days ago
    
    Sell you a $10,000 upgrade for Full Self Awareness capability then don’t deliver it an change the hardware requirements
    
    senordevnyc - 3 days ago
    
    Tesla doesn’t need a business model, they’re a meme stock.
    
    idiotsecant - 3 days ago
    
    Only on HN can you say something so obviously true and have a reply section full of uhm ackshuwllys.
    
    LanceJones - 3 days ago
    
    Perhaps. I suppose the biggest in history then? $1.4T valuation and 60% of shares held by non-meme institutions (like pension funds, S&P tracking ETFs, etc) when you factor out insiders.
    
    bdangubic - 3 days ago
    
    “The market can remain irrational longer than …” - John Maynard Keynes.