ChatGPT ads for $200/month Pro users might be OpenAI's biggest fumble yet — but an overall necessity for its financial woes

Aside from Windows 11's stringent hardware requirements and flawed design elements, Microsoft's continued integration of ads into the operating system is among the main reasons why users are reluctant to upgrade, even after Windows 10's death. Perhaps more interestingly, we're seeing Linux gain popularity, presumably at least in part to its lack of ads and telemetry tracking.

OpenAI is arguably the most sought-after and well-established AI research lab. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella argued that this can be attributed to its 2-year runway, which allowed it to build and develop ChatGPT uncontested.

But as it now seems, the AI firm might be on the precipice of throwing all these efforts into the water. Over the past few weeks, numerous reports have emerged detailing OpenAI's plans to integrate ads into ChatGPT (via Tech Radar).

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman previously dismissed ChatGPT ads as a last resort for generating revenue. But he didn't completely shut that door either. "I'm not saying OpenAI would never consider ads, but I don't like them in general, and I think that 'ads-plus-AI' is sort of uniquely unsettling to me," added Altman.

Ads in ChatGPT seem imminent as new code suggests that the company is already internally testing them in the chatbot.

ChatGPT users can't entertain the thoughts of ads

OpenAI has faced a wide range of financial challenges as it tries to keep up with the AI race against competitors like Anthropic and Google. However, investors have raised concerns about the billions of dollars invested in the ever-evolving technology without a clear profitability path.

Concerningly, a damning report claimed that there's no clear path for OpenAI to profitability through 2030. And even if it manages to keep its operations afloat during this period, it'll still need to invest an additional $207 billion to ascertain its sustainability.

It was only a matter of time till OpenAI considered integrating ads into ChatGPT. Reports suggest that the company is already burning through money. For context, OpenAI might have lost $11.5 billion chasing AI hype, according to Microsoft's financial report for the fiscal year ending June 30.

According to recent reports, the AI firm generates up to $13 billion annually from ChatGPT and LLM access fees. However, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman projects that the figure could skyrocket to $100 billion by 2027. It seems highly unlikely that the company could cover its exorbitant expenses from the revenue it generates. This could only make sense if ChatGPT ads join the fold.

What puzzles me is that the company might even integrate ChatGPT ads for users with paid subscription plans. Absurdly, some users with a $200/month ChatGPT Pro subscription have already started sharing screenshots of ads appearing in their user interfaces while interacting with the chatbot.

Daniel McAuley, an OpenAI Data Scientist, dismissed the claims, indicating that the pop-up was only a suggestion and not an ad. However, he admitted that "the lack of relevancy makes it a bad/confusing experience". It seems that the company is iterating on suggestions and the US in ChatGPT, in an attempt to improve the experience.

Be it as it may, ads have no place in ChatGPT based on the sentiments and backlash shared by users across social media. However, it feels like a necessary evil to keep OpenAI's operations going.

According to one Redditor:

"Right now Chat GPT needs to increase its revenue by about 9x to break even, it can only exist now thanks to companies dumping billions into this technology.

Unless someone suddenly invents cold fusion power or GPUs that last forever, there is no possi le way for them to ever turn a profit unless they drastically increase the price of their services and flood it with ads. Even then, i dont think that will even be half of what they need to survive.

Nobody is going to pay $1k per month for this, and they know that."

Only time will tell what OpenAI and ChatGPT's future will look like — ad-dominated or free and intuitive.

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