OpenAI won't rule out ads on ChatGPT – but only if they're ‘thoughtful and tasteful’

• ChatGPT might not be ad-free forever
• Head of ChatGPT Nick Turley says ads could be implemented in the future in some OpenAI products
• ChatGPT could remain ad-free, but at what cost?

The head of ChatGPT says OpenAI could implement ads on its products in the future, but only if they are "thoughtful and tasteful."

Speaking to The Verge, Nick Turley, the head of ChatGPT, was quizzed on the possibility of the AI chatbot getting ads in the future. While reluctant to respond, he did give an insight into how he views advertising for ChatGPT, and couldn't rule it out completely.

Turley said, "Look, since you’re really trying to get me to comment on ads, I have become humble enough not to make crazy, extreme, long-term statements on a question like that, because maybe there is a certain market where people aren’t willing to pay us, yet we want to offer the best, latest, and greatest. Maybe that would be a place to consider other indirect forms of monetization."

He added that if the company were to ever implement ads, they would need to do so in a "very, very careful and deliberate because I really think that the thing that makes ChatGPT magical is the fact that you get the best answer for you, and there’s no other stakeholder in the middle."

While that sounds pretty positive for the future of an ad-free ChatGPT experience, Turley couldn't rule it out altogether, instead opting for a more diplomatic approach. He said, "I’m humble enough not to rule it out categorically, but we’d have to be very thoughtful and tasteful about it."

Maybe more positive, however, is that he seems to think that if ads were to appear on OpenAI products, then it's likely to be on other offerings from the company, not the world's most popular AI chatbot with over 700 million weekly users.

He said, "We will build other products, and those other products can have different dimensions to them, and maybe ChatGPT just isn’t an ads-y product because it’s just so deeply accountable to your goals."

ChatGPT is ad free, but subscriptions will likely ramp up

While Nick Turley's comments leave me feeling hopeful for an ad-free ChatGPT experience for the foreseeable future, I feel less positive about an even more heavily tiered platform that paywalls its best features.

Just yesterday, ChatGPT started to roll out Gmail connectivity, but its best capabilities are paywalled behind ChatGPT Pro, a $200 / £200 a month subscription.

As a ChatGPT Plus subscriber who pays $20 / £20 a month, I've noticed the sheer difference in capabilities between the paid version and the free one, and while I understand OpenAI needs to make money as a business, $240 / £240 a year feels like a steep ask.

I'm worried about the future of AI being paywalled behind premium subscriptions, and I think it's the direction we're heading in. Even companies like Google have offered premium AI subscriptions with the best Pixel smartphones for a year; however, following that initial period, the same Gemini AI capabilities become paid.

If subscriptions and basic free tiers are the way AI companies justify ad-free chatbots, then I'm more pro-ads than I ever thought I'd be. In fact, give me an ad-riddled ChatGPT with full access to the same as a Plus account for free; I'd take that over forking out a hefty amount of money every single month.

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