Sam Atman open to ChatGPT ads idea

OpenAI CEO, Sam Altman, sounded surprisingly on board when asked about the possibility of ads on ChatGPT during the debut episode of OpenAI’s official podcast.

Atman didn’t dodge the topic when the show's host, Andrew Mayne, brought up OpenAI’s approach to ads.

"We haven't done any advertising product yet. I kind of...I mean, I'm not totally against it. I can point to areas where I like ads. I think ads on Instagram, kinda cool. I bought a bunch of stuff from them. But I am, like, I think it'd be very hard to…I mean, take a lot of care to get right,” Atman said.

This reflected a largely different rhetoric from Atman’s earlier remarks. For instance, in a 2024 discussion at Harvard Business School, Atman claimed that advertising is a “last resort” for OpenAI, which he hoped to avoid.

Overall, it seems like the advertisement door is being slightly pushed open — at least for now.

The authors of the top liked comments under the video expressed their strong disapproval of the potential move: “Dear OpenAI. Please avoid the ads if you want to maintain your edge.”

ChatGPT was fully free for use until 2023, when OpenAI launched a premium service, ChatGPT Plus, at a monthly cost of $20. There are some additional plans, like ChatGPT Team and ChatGPT Enterprise, with the platform boasting 10 million paying subscribers and another million commercial plan users.

The company reportedly makes $2.7 billion per year from its paid subscriptions — and this value is expected to reach $4 billion by the end of 2025.

OpenAI is targeting $125 billion in revenue by 2029, according to a person familiar with the matter cited by CNBC.

Last week, it was announced that OpenAI was awarded a $200 million contract to provide the US Defense Department with artificial intelligence tools.