OpenAI Eyes ChatGPT Ads Amid Soaring Costs, Business Model Shift

• OpenAI explores advertising for ChatGPT to diversify revenue and cover rising growth costs, signaling a shift in its business model.
• Concepts include conversational ads, sponsored recommendations, and sidebar placements, moving beyond traditional banner ads.
• Challenges involve maintaining user trust, lower ad revenue potential from 90% of users outside US/Canada, and preserving product quality.
• Despite public denials of active tests, internal documents and hiring of ad specialists suggest preparatory work is underway.
• The move reflects escalating costs of training large AI models and competition from rivals like Google and Anthropic.

Why It Matters: OpenAI is seriously considering ads for ChatGPT to fund growth, balancing monetization with user experience.