{"id":250923,"date":"2025-12-25T14:47:14","date_gmt":"2025-12-25T14:47:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/250923\/"},"modified":"2025-12-25T14:47:14","modified_gmt":"2025-12-25T14:47:14","slug":"report-openai-explores-ways-to-make-money-from-chatgpt-with-conversational-ads","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/250923\/","title":{"rendered":"Report: OpenAI explores ways to make money from ChatGPT with conversational ads"},"content":{"rendered":"

Artificial intelligence industry darling OpenAI Group PBC<\/a> is reportedly mulling the idea of embedding advertisements into ChatGPT\u2019s responses amid pressure from investors to start making money from the chatbot.<\/p>\n

A report in The Information<\/a> today suggests that OpenAI is already exploring possible ad formats and partnerships, with one of the favorite ideas being to integrate them within ChatGPT\u2019s responses. Though the initiative is still in the initial planning stage, it\u2019s believed that the company sees ads as key to building a sustainable business model over the long term.<\/p>\n

To date, OpenAI has struggled to monetize the immensely successful ChatGPT application. Its primary revenue stream comes from subscriptions, with the company charging \u201cpower users\u201d $20 per month, but the vast majority of users don\u2019t pay anything at all. In order to fund its extremely ambitious data center-building plans and satisfy investors who have poured multiple billions of dollars into the company, OpenAI needs to find a way to make money from these free users, and digital advertising represents the most obvious way to do that.<\/p>\n

OpenAI simply has to find a way to generate revenue. ChatGPT has been amazingly successful, but the subscription fees it generates don\u2019t even scratch the surface of the immense cost of the powerful infrastructure that supports it.<\/p>\n

Training large language models and performing real-time inference for millions of users globally requires vast computing resources, and it\u2019s thought that the company is burning through hundreds of millions of dollars per month. If OpenAI can\u2019t generate enough revenue to cover these costs, it\u2019s ultimately destined to become the biggest failed venture in the history of the technology industry.<\/p>\n

That explains why there are some very smart people trying to figure out the best way to extract money from ChatGPT\u2019s millions of free users. According to The Information, which cites anonymous sources familiar with the company\u2019s plans, it\u2019s not going to try to clone the business model of rivals such as Google LLC and Meta Platforms Inc., which rely on AI algorithms to bombard users with sponsored ads in their search results and social feeds. Instead, it\u2019s trying to make money from user\u2019s actual conversations with ChatGPT.<\/p>\n

Conversational recommendations<\/p>\n

OpenAI\u2019s ad strategy has been labeled internally as \u201cintent-based monetization,\u201d and instead of just providing answers to people\u2019s questions, ChatGPT may evolve to start making recommendations on occasion, too.<\/p>\n

In Google Search, the ad model is quite straightforward. If someone types \u201cbest running shoes,\u201d the results will show multiple sponsored links from advertisers, as well as a few organic results that aren\u2019t ads. In OpenAI\u2019s vision, ads will appear much more naturally in the context of user\u2019s conversations with ChatGPT. So if someone asks it for tips on how to run a marathon, the chatbot will provide basic advice on long-distance running and also suggest a local running clinic or a specific brand of running shoes or hydration packs.<\/p>\n

OpenAI would be able to profit from this by taking a cut out of any purchases that stem from its product recommendations. Alternatively, it might let companies pay to be prompted within the chatbot\u2019s decision-making logic, so when a scenario arises where a brand sells products or services that might be useful to the person engaging with ChatGPT, it\u2019ll recommend them ahead of others.<\/p>\n

For advertisers, one of the most appealing aspects of this model is that it will involve much less work on their part. The Information says OpenAI is exploring \u201cgenerative ads,\u201d where ChatGPT basically creates the ad itself, choosing which specific features of a product to mention. It would experiment with different ways of pitching products to try to increase conversion rates.<\/p>\n

In addition, OpenAI is also considering the idea of \u201csponsors,\u201d where brands might be able to sponsor specific products and services within the GPT store. For instance, a brand that sells sauces might become the sponsor of a gourmet-chef GPT chatbot that generates recipes and cooking instructions. It would also have the opportunity to favor its own ingredients in the recipes.<\/p>\n

The trust problem<\/p>\n

The challenge for OpenAI is to integrate these \u201crecommendations\u201d into ChatGPT in such a way that it remains useful and continues to provide value for users. Most people trust ChatGPT as a neutral AI assistant that doesn\u2019t have favorites. If that trust is eroded and users perceive it to be shilling products and services, they may end up going elsewhere.<\/p>\n

OpenAI Chief Executive Sam Altman therefore tasked the nascent ad team with ensuring that any ads in ChatGPT are just as helpful as the organic responses it generates, and they\u2019ll also have to strike the right balance. If every single response ends up pitching a product or a service, users are going to get annoyed very quickly, so the ads must only be promoted in the right time and place.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a tricky challenge, but there is a powerful incentive for OpenAI to pull it off, for the value of the global advertising industry is expected to reach $1 trillion annually this year or next.<\/p>\n

Image: SiliconANGLE\/Dreamina<\/p>\n

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