OpenAI has announced plans to begin displaying advertisements to users of ChatGPT who do not subscribe to its premium service.
The company stated on Friday that while ads have not yet been implemented, they will be tested in the coming weeks.
This initiative is the latest strategy from the San Francisco-based organization to monetize ChatGPT, which boasts over 800 million users, the majority of whom access it for free.
Despite a valuation of $500 billion, OpenAI faces significant financial losses and is actively seeking ways to achieve profitability.
“The key point is that ads will not affect the responses provided by ChatGPT,” commented Fidji Simo, the CEO of applications at OpenAI, in a social media update on Friday.
The company indicated that advertisements will be shown at the end of ChatGPT’s responses “when there is a relevant sponsored product or service related to your current conversation.”
OpenAI assured users that the advertisements “will be clearly marked and distinct from the organic content provided in the responses.”
Rival companies like Google and Meta have dominated the digital advertising landscape for years and have already started integrating ads into their AI functionalities.
Originally established as a nonprofit to safely develop advanced AI, OpenAI transformed its ownership structure last year and became a public benefit corporation. The company emphasized that its advertising efforts will always aim to support its foundational goal of ensuring that AI technology benefits humanity.
However, the introduction of personalized advertising could lead OpenAI “down a precarious path” similar to that taken by social media platforms, cautioned Miranda Bogen from the Center for Democracy and Technology.
“Users engage with chatbots for a variety of reasons, including companionship and guidance,” remarked Bogen, director of CDT’s AI Governance Lab. “There are significant risks involved when such tools leverage users’ trust to market advertisers’ products.”
OpenAI generates some revenue from paid subscriptions but is under pressure to increase income to support its substantial financial liabilities exceeding $1 trillion related to the computing resources powering its AI. Concerns about OpenAI’s capacity to meet the expectations of investors like Oracle and Nvidia have raised fears of a potential AI bubble.
“It’s evident that many people wish to utilize AI without paying, so we are optimistic that a model like this could be viable,” stated OpenAI CEO Sam Altman in a post on Friday on the social platform X. He also expressed appreciation for ads on Meta’s Instagram, suggesting they expose him to new discoveries.
While OpenAI claims it will not use personal data or user prompts for advertising purposes, concerns linger about how long this policy will hold, according to Paddy Harrington, an analyst with the research group Forrester.
“No free service is truly free, and these public AI platforms must find ways to generate revenue,” Harrington noted. “This leads us to the adage: if the service is free, you are the product.”
