OpenAI considers advertisements as a future source of revenue

The renowned AI company OpenAI is currently considering introducing advertisements in its products to tap into new revenue streams. These considerations are taking place as the company restructures into a profit-oriented model. CFO Sarah Friar told the Financial Times that OpenAI, currently valued at $150 billion, is examining an advertising model in depth. However, they want to carefully consider when and where ads will be implemented. Although OpenAI received $6.6 billion in new funds last October, some executives, as discussions on the topic show, remain skeptical about the introduction of advertising. Sam Altman, the company's CEO, is increasingly open to this option. The company is intensifying its efforts to monetize existing products, including its AI-powered search engine. Smaller competitors like Perplexity are already testing advertising models on their platforms. Evidently inspired by the success of technology giants like Meta and Google, which used advertising for monetization, OpenAI has recruited experts from these companies. Friar and Chief Product Officer Kevin Weil, due to their extensive experience in the advertising sector, see potential. These experiences are now to be brought into OpenAI. The company expects annual expenses to exceed revenues due to massive investments in new AI models. Despite generating around $4 billion in revenue from the success of ChatGPT, which now counts 250 million active users weekly, a funding need of over $5 billion is anticipated. Currently, OpenAI's main revenues are generated through granting access rights to its API and selling individual and enterprise licenses for ChatGPT. However, challenges remain, as advertising models are susceptible to economic fluctuations and may shift the company's focus from user-centric to provider-centric. Nonetheless, at least within the leadership, there seems to be no fundamental opposition to advertisements.