While more expensive subscriptions will remain ad-free, this initiative is part of the company's strategy to diversify its revenue ahead of a potential IPO and to cover the high costs of developing and maintaining its AI systems.
Bloomberg also reports that OpenAI does not expect to become profitable in the coming years and plans to invest about $1.4 trillion in data centers and AI chips.
In the first phase, the company will test advertising for sponsored products and services by placing ad blocks at the bottom of ChatGPT responses to separate them from the main content of the dialogue. OpenAI believes that such advertising can help users make more informed purchasing decisions.
Currently, OpenAI has over 800 million users each week, according to Bloomberg. Company executives, such as Fiji Simo, who previously worked at Facebook and led Instacart, have experience in digital advertising.
Simo emphasized that advertising will not affect the generation of ChatGPT responses, and the company guarantees that user conversations will not be shared with advertisers. Additionally, ads will not be shown on sensitive topics such as mental health and politics to underage users as determined by the system.
Furthermore, Bloomberg reminds of a three-year agreement between OpenAI and Walt Disney Co., under which Disney is investing $1 billion and providing a license to use its characters for the Sora platform.
