ChatGPT To Feature Advertising
Credit: Wikipedia
ChatGPT users have begun seeing banner ads while chatting with the chatbot. In November, a reference to advertising was discovered in ChatGPT’s code, and now the ads are gradually appearing for users in different regions.
The backlash was immediate when the first screenshot of such an ad was posted on social media, suggesting that OpenAI will have to back down to retain its loyal audience. One ChatGPT Pro user was prompted to “find a group fitness class” and connect to the Peloton app—he didn’t ask the AI about Peloton or fitness in general. Previously, code fragments mentioning an “ad feature,” some “bazaar content,” “search ads,” and a “search ad carousel” were discovered in the ChatGPT Android app.
The ads in ChatGPT were an expected feature, especially for users without a paid subscription, but showing them to users of the expensive $200 per month ChatGPT Pro subscription is perhaps a bit much. The same goes for those paying $20 per month for ChatGPT Plus. One ChatGPT Pro user said they were already considering canceling their paid subscription; a second, who also had the same subscription, said they’d been seeing them for two or three days and added that they were from the UK, suggesting OpenAI had decided to conduct their experiment there as well.
Rumors circulate that OpenAI plans to gradually increase the price of access to ChatGPT. OpenAI’s management has been changing its stance on advertising over the past 12 months.
