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Nika

OpenAI announces testing ads within the results

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As Techcrunch mentioned... OpenAI will start testing targeted ads in ChatGPT for free, and $8/month Go users in the U.S., while higher-tier subscriptions remain ad-free.

Ads will appear at the bottom of conversations, can be dismissed, and won’t influence ChatGPT’s answers or involve selling user data. The move aims to generate revenue while keeping free access, and may also encourage some users to upgrade to paid tiers.

According to the team, it shouldn't influence the text replies (in terms of preferences or affecting the relevancy of the answer)

How do you feel about this change?

Will you trust such an advertisement, or will it push you towards the paid plan to avoid ad results?

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AJ

This was the wrong move.

The general public seems to be developing an anti AI sentiment more and more.

To me this signals that they need revenue and they need it fast. Which can mean a number of things, anything from a stall in research progress, to market skepticism, to VCs not being as bullish.

It concerns me because people might grow jaded and regard chatgpt as just another ad filled app.

This signals the magic is gone.

Nika

@build_with_aj In other words, Google is winning the audience again (probably).

AJ

@busmark_w_nika Maybe. I can see it happening.

If microsoft had any clue on how to make copilot good they would be winning. They have built in distribution.

Ivo Gospodinov

@build_with_aj  I see it a bit differently.

Ads don’t automatically kill trust - hidden incentives do. If ads are clearly labelled and don’t influence the actual answers, that’s very different from a feed-driven product.
At this scale, some form of monetization is inevitable. The real test will be whether they protect the core experience or slowly let it erode.

AJ

@ivo_gospodinov 
The monetization is inevitable yes, but I fear people will see this as a netflix with ads moment.

It will scream shrinkflation and a lot of people are going to have strong reactions. The loss for OpenAI is not necessarily the MAU numbers, it's more about how people will perceive the product especially if one of the paid tiers still has ads.

Matthew @ Sapling

Sam knows the runway is coming to an end and if he doesn't show some path to profitability, he's toast. OpenAI and Anthrophic have the challenge that AI is their only game. Unlike Google, Meta, Microsoft that have numerous revenue engines, these two have to prove that people will pay purely for AI tools. I think (hope) Anthropic has a winning plan to be profitable by 2030 but they are in a similar boat as OpenAI.

Nika

@tinyorgtech I spotted that Google, with their Gemini are taking the fame back.

AJ

@tinyorgtech 

I think Anthropic is gonna go all in on enterprise.

OpenAI picked the consumer market at the time where anti AI sentiment is growing.

Asad Iqbal
This is actually an interesting signal for where business discovery is heading. The ads themselves? i’m not worried about as long as they stay at the bottom and dont corrupt the actual answers, its reasonable trade off for keeping free access alive. OpenAI needs to monetize somehow, and this beats the alternative which is jacking up the prices or gating features. For years, everyones been paying the Google game. SEO, paid ads, fighting for the blue links. Now you’ve got billions of users asking questions in ChatGPT. I genuinely think being discoverable inside ChatGPT through the App store, being the answer ChatGPT naturally recommends is going to be the true game changer for businesses. Thats the organic play before the ad auction gets crowded and expensive, like Google eventually became. But again I am biased because of my company and our offerings.
Nika

@asadatnoodle Sure, it can be good for the advertiser. Tho, let's see the perspective of a regular user. On the other hand... what do the users do? Switch to other tools that will implement the same, but later?

Asad Iqbal
@busmark_w_nika Gemini will definitely be introducing ads, otherwise they would be catabolise their own ads business which is huge for Google. Perplexity high chances as well. The only tool which I don’t see introducing ads is Claude. That’s mainly because Claude is more of a specialised tool for business users (devs being a prominent ICP for them)
Nika

@asadatnoodle I have read something that Perplexity agreed on some terms of the EU (probably something restrictive). Let's see how this one will be doing.

Harry Zhang

As a user, I am not the biggest fan, as it's gonna affect user experience. As a founder, I am excited because big platforms launching Ads usually bring unparalleled ROI opportunities (like X revamping its ad programs completely in 2023 and 2024).

Nika

@harryzhangs I think it can work (just let's take how AI recommends sources of articles) and we "blindly" believe these resources. But I am hesitant about the experience.

Abdur-Rahman Bilal

I get that ads can be a bit of a pain, but they’re pretty good for making money. I think it would be a win-win if OpenAI handled its own ad services instead of relying on Google.

Nika

@arambdev ofc, when it brings money, it is beneficial, I am just also thinking about regular users :D

Seonghun Kim

I don't like it as user.

But there's no choice for survival.

Nika

@highlightyourproduct yeah, investors wanna see results.