OpenAI is already working on an advertising tool for ChatGPT, a leak shows last Saturday (28). Automation is the first step towards selling ads.
Code snippets from the beta version of the chatbot app for Android include references to “ads,” which is short for advertising in English. The script is the basic framework for implementing ad targeting. The focus seems to be on the search engine, in a business model similar to Google.
The guide was found by Tibor Blaho, chief engineer of software designed to improve the use of ChatGPT and competitor CLOUD. “In the latest beta version of the ChatGPT Android app, when compared to the previous version, I saw new rows like ‘Ad Feature’, ‘Bazaar Content’, ‘Search Ad’ and ‘Display Carousel Ads for Search’ which were not there before,” Blaho wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
The AI startup, currently the world’s most valuable (market capitalization estimated at $500 billion), is looking for new sources of revenue to meet its high investments in contracting cloud services.
British bank HSBC estimates that OpenAI, even if it doubles its premium subscriber base and succeeds in selling advertising, will need US$207 billion in 2030 to fund its existing contracts with advanced computing providers. This is a service that enables the development and operation of contemporary artificial intelligence systems.
When contacted through its press office, the startup responded.
Since launching its video-based, AI-driven social network Sora in September, OpenAI has made a series of product announcements: the Atlas browser, group chats on ChatGPT, and now a potential advertising tool.
The creator of ChatGPT has had an arm dedicated to developing profitable products since 2022, when CEO Nick Turley was brought on board from cloud storage service Dropbox. In addition to the products mentioned, this was the division responsible for making ChatGPT even more popular and liked, according to a report by the New York Times.
Since then, Turley’s team has received reinforcements from former employees of Meta, owner of the Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp, and digital advertising empire. Today, 30% of OpenAI’s 3,000-person team comes from the social media group, according to a survey by specialist website The Information – there are 630 graduates who are dead.
Also according to The Information, the company is discussing whether it can use ChatGPT’s personalization mechanism to target ads. This is a tool that makes the chatbot remember previous conversations and adjust its tone depending on the interlocutor.
Activating privacy features in ChatGPT today weakens the operation of this memory mechanism.
While employees discuss how to add advertising to AI platforms, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has actually modified his advertising talk in recent months.
Earlier this year, he said the ads would be a “last resort” — “something uniquely worrying.” Last month, Altman said, in an interview with a specialized program, that he considered it “a little unpleasant,” but that it could not be eliminated.