Is the advertising industry facing a major challenger? Rumor has it that OpenAI is considering embedding ads in ChatGPT

The Zhitong Finance App learned that according to reports, OpenAI appears to be promoting the insertion of advertisements in ChatGPT. According to people familiar with the matter, OpenAI internal employees have discussed how to adjust certain artificial intelligence models to prioritize sponsorship information in ChatGPT responses. Additionally, a person who has seen the advertising model told the news outlet that the discussion also included models of how various recently created advertisements are displayed in the app.

Another person familiar with the matter told the media that the company may also develop a new type of digital advertising. Currently, the digital advertising market is dominated by Google (GOOGL.US), Meta Platforms (META.US), and Amazon (AMZN.US), which together account for more than 50% of the market share.

An OpenAI spokesperson said, “As ChatGPT becomes more powerful and more widely used, we're exploring how we can continue to provide smarter services for everyone. As part of this, we're looking at ad formats in products. Users have built a trusting relationship with ChatGPT, and the design of any solution will respect that trust.”

Fidji Simo, CEO of OpenAI's Applications Division, has been looking for someone to take charge of ChatGPT's monetization efforts, including introducing advertising features. Simo reportedly met with a number of potential candidates in September, including some of her former Facebook colleagues, who will form a new team to take charge of ChatGPT's advertising business.

OpenAI chief financial officer Sarah Friar previously told the media that the company is exploring adding ads to its products.

Entering the advertising sector is expected to further boost OpenAI's revenue, which is particularly important as the company appears to be about to launch a new round of large-scale financing, which could raise $100 billion from investors. In November, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said that the current revenue of ChatGPT's developers “far exceeds” 13 billion US dollars and predicts that its revenue is expected to reach 100 billion US dollars in 2027. OpenAI's current revenue streams include selling ChatGPT subscription services to consumers and businesses, and providing access to its application programming interface (API) and other tools.