OpenAI says it will not sell user data to advertisers, but that does not mean it won’t sell advertisers to its users.
Users of ChatGPT’s free online service are about to experience the end of a golden era, with the company saying it is going to “level the playing field” for advertisers.
‘We never sell your data to advertisers.’
OpenAI said it will allow “anyone to create high-quality experiences” to help users “discover options they might never have found otherwise.”
This is the long way to announce that it will now start serving ads to users at the bottom of their ChatGPT conversations.
“We plan to test ads at the bottom of answers in ChatGPT when there’s a relevant sponsored product or service based on your current conversation,” the tech company said in a press release.
The company provided an example of what users can expect to see, showcasing an ad for hot sauce at the bottom of a user prompt for Mexican food ideas for a dinner party; the ad takes up about 40% of the user’s phone-screen space.
In what are likely to be used as work-arounds for an ad-free experience, OpenAI listed the few occasions in which it will not serve ads.
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Users who are under 18 years old or believed to be under 18 will not be served ads. Neither will users who are discussing “sensitive or regulated topics like health, mental health, or politics.”
Included in the introduction of ads was convincing the users their data would be safe. Therefore, OpenAI noted that ads would not influence the answers that ChatGPT provides, and user conversations will be kept “private from advertisers.”
“We never sell your data to advertisers,” the company wrote.
This was a key feature of OpenAI’s “Ad Principles,” which sought to convince readers that implementing ads is part of its mission to ensure its platform “benefits all of humanity” and makes AI more accessible.
Business, Enterprise, Plus and Pro subscriptions will not include ads. That means users will have to fork over at least $20 per month to avoid them; those using ChatGPT for free or under the $8/month Go plan will see them.
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Much of OpenAI’s announcement focused on how the new ads will actually help the user, explaining that they will be more helpful and tailor-made than “any other ads.”
While this may push some users to free platforms, some may enjoy the ability to speak directly with the interface to make purchasing decisions, even though this may inevitably result in users being pushed to buy certain products.
“Conversational interfaces create possibilities for people to go beyond static messages and links. For example, soon you might see an ad and be able to directly ask the questions you need to make a purchase decision,” OpenAI wrote.
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