Well, they’re here. Just a quick note for now (lots more to say later, but a board meeting in SF means that’ll be later) – OpenAI is rolling out ads to its free and “Go” paid tier. The ads look…harmless enough, just a sponsored link unit with small graphics at the bottom of the chat. Pretty much the exact launch playbook we saw from Google 25 years ago, and Facebook in 2012. A rudimentary prototype of what will become, over the next few years, an increasingly sophisticated monetization platform that, let’s face it, will probably make Instagram look tame.
OpenAI also rolled out some pledges: “We decide which ad to show by matching ads submitted by advertisers with the topic of your conversation, your past chats, and past interactions with ads. For example, if you’re researching recipes, you may see ads for meal kits or grocery delivery. If there are multiple advertisers, we’ll select the one that is most relevant to your chat to show you first….Advertisers do not have access to your chats, chat history, memories, or personal details. Advertisers only receive aggregate information about how their ads perform such as number of views or clicks.”
If you line up OpenAI’s pledges, it sounds awfully familiar: We won’t sell your data … but we will lease it in aggregate and target you personally. Ads won’t effect chat results … but we reserve the right to “evolve our advertising program to support additional formats, objectives and buying models and build new ways for businesses to interact with consumers in ChatGPT.” Truck, meet wide open hole.