There was a change in strategy at OpenAI. However, as it is said, advertising should “never influence ChatGPT’s responses”. Only expensive subscriptions remain ad-free.
OpenAI will also finance its flagship product ChatGPT with advertising in the future. The AI start-up in San Francisco announced that tests will soon start in the USA. The advertising in ChatGPT is being tested in the free ChatGPT version as well as in the new entry-level tariff ChatGPT Go. More expensive paid subscriptions such as Plus, Pro, Business and Enterprise should remain ad-free in the future.
The global leader in AI chatbots simultaneously published its principles of placement: “Advertising never influences ChatGPT’s responses,” it says in a blog post. The answers would be optimized purely based on what helped the most. “Ads are always separated and clearly labeled.”
The company also promised to respect user privacy: “We keep conversations with ChatGPT strictly protected from advertisers and do not sell data.” Each user decides for themselves how data is used. “Personalization can be turned off and data used for ads can be deleted at any time.” In addition, there is always a way to use ChatGPT without advertising – for example via a paid, ad-free tariff.
If you don’t want to see any advertising on ChatGPT in the future, you’ll have to pay at least $20 a month for a ChatGPT Plus subscription. The new entry-level plan ChatGPT Go, which costs eight dollars a month, is not ad-free. The tests with the advertisements will initially run in the USA. It is not yet clear when ChatGPT will be seen with advertising in Germany and Europe.
With the decision to finance advertising, OpenAI is making a change in strategy. Company co-founder and CEO Sam Altman used to be strictly against it. Recently, however, he has been more open in interviews. He cited Instagram as an example of advertising that can be useful if done well.
OpenAI is trying to develop new sources of revenue in view of the high operating costs of operating the huge AI models. The main thing is to make sales with free users. It is estimated that over 90 percent of ChatGPT users use the free version. These users only cause costs for OpenAI and have not yet generated any revenue. (APA/dpa)
