OpenAI has started placing advertisements in the basic versions of its ChatGPT chatbot, betting that users will not be offended by such interruptions, as the company seeks additional revenue amid rising costs. This is reported by AFP, writes UNN.
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"Testing will be conducted among registered adult users on Free and Go plans" in the US, OpenAI announced on Monday. The Go subscription costs $8 in the US.
Only a small percentage of nearly one billion users pay for premium services, which will remain ad-free.
"Ads do not affect the responses ChatGPT provides, and we keep your conversations with ChatGPT private from advertisers," the company noted.
Since ChatGPT's launch in 2022, OpenAI's valuation has grown to $500 billion through funding rounds — more than any other private company. Some analysts expect the company could go public with a trillion-dollar valuation.
But the ChatGPT maker is spending money extremely quickly, mostly on the powerful computing resources needed to provide its services.
CEO Sam Altman had previously long expressed a negative attitude towards advertising, fearing that it could cause distrust in ChatGPT's content.
However, his change of stance attracted the attention of competitor Anthropic, which debuted with an advertisement during the Super Bowl weekend, stating that its chatbot Claude would remain ad-free.
In one of the commercials, a man asking the chatbot for advice on how to communicate with his mother receives a sincere recommendation, and the conversation then transitions into an advertising offer for a fictional adult dating site, "Golden Encounters."