Last month, OpenAI announced that it would be introducing ads to ChatGPT’s free and Go tier users. The company rolled out ads to U.S.-based users earlier this month after criticism from rivals such as Anthropic, which ran a spate of Super Bowl ads.
On the sidelines of the India AI Summit, TechCrunch spoke to OpenAI COO Brad Lightcap about how the company approaches advertising. Lightcap said the process is iterative and the company needs to get user privacy and trust right.
“Well, this is certainly going to be an iterative process. We’re committed to getting this right. What does that look like? It obviously means maintaining a very high level of user trust. It means getting privacy right,” Lightcap said.
He also pointed out that advertising, if done right, can further enhance a user’s product experience. He urged OpenAI to give the company a few months to see how the product rolls out.
“It means creating a really enjoyable product experience. We think that advertising done right can be additive to the product experience. So it takes some iteration, it takes time, but we’re just getting started. So let’s probably give it a few months and see how it goes,” he said.
Lightcap declined to say whether the company is currently considering advertising beyond the U.S. market.
Earlier this month, Sam Altman fired back at Anthropic in a lengthy post on X about the Super Bowl ad, calling OpenAI’s rivals “dishonest” and accusing them of making expensive products for “rich people.”
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“More importantly, everyone has a right to use AI, and we are committed to free access, because we believe access creates agency. With more Texans using ChatGPT for free than the total number of people using Claude in the United States, we have a different form of the problem than they do,” Altman wrote.
Various news outlets have reported that OpenAI charges $60 for 1,000 impressions, which is an unusually high rate. Last month, Adweek pointed out that OpenAI is asking advertisers for a minimum commitment of $200,000. Earlier this week, The Information reported that Shopify is joining early testers including Target, Williams Sonoma, and Adobe to allow merchants to advertise on ChatGPT through its Shop Campaigns ad network.
