It’s no secret that AI companies like OpenAI are struggling to make their models do the most important thing they should. No, not giving accurate answers or performing autonomously. Those may be forever out of reach. But turning what they do into revenue —that’s a goal worthy of pursuit.
OpenAI’s recent addition to the executive roster, Fidji Simo, the company’s CEO of Applications, is seeking a new head of advertising. The move isn’t a surprising one. The company has been exploring ways to generate revenue that don’t rely on subscriptions, including possibly taking a cut of sales made through the platform.
This ad was generated by OpenAI
Simo, formerly the head of Instacart and Facebook, is on the lookout for someone who can manage monetisation for ChatGPT. The candidate will, according to a report from Sources, “lead a new team that will be tasked with bringing ads to ChatGPT.”
Who exactly will step up to further pollute your ChatGPT responses with information someone paid to have shown to you isn’t known, but the potential pool includes folks Simo previously worked with at Facebook. As we all know, Facebook became so much better* once it shifted to an advertising-first platform, so we can expect similar changes to come to OpenAI’s chatbot.
Sam Altman’s AI company isn’t the only one looking to generate revenue from displaying ads to users. Perplexity’s Comet web browser is explicit in its desire to serve advertising using the data generated by those who fire up its software on a regular basis.
*Not really
