[Young journalist Cheon Ye On] OpenAI will implement advertisements in ChatGPT in the U.S., within a few weeks. As Google and Entrophy’s competition intensifies, OpenAI plans to fund part of the massive investment needed for ChatGPT upgrades through advertising.

Through official statement of OpenAI on 16th (KST), OpenAI revealed that they will start to test run ChatGPT advertisements in the USA first and will spread the range gradually.

Based on OpenAI, the advertisement is separated from the ChatGPT’s reply, and is exposed with a clear advertisement label under the reply. For instance, if the user inquires about a New York travel plan, the same ChatGPT reply from the previous one will be given, and then the user can be exposed with the ad of related hotels together. The company emphasized that the advertisement has no effect on ChatGPT’s reply context.

Open AI application CEO, Fidji Simo claimed in her blog announcing the ad implement, that “numerous users are depending on ChatGPT on private and important problems”, and that “even if the advertisement is implemented, it is important the most that it doesn’t damage ChatGPT’s value and reliance.”

This advertisement will be primarily applied to logged-in free users and users using ‘Go’ plan. Go plan is a plan that is able to send more messages and generate images more than the ree version, and the service had started from the USA that day. On the other hand, there won’t be visible advertisements for Plus, Pro, and Enterprise subscribers. 

Open AI also revealed advertisement operation rules. The company doesn’t sell the user data,  and ChatGPT and the users’ chat history to advertisers. The advertisers can’t check separate users’ age, location, their interest, etc, and can only receive collected performance indicators such as advertisement exposure and click numbers.

The advertisement is shown based on the topic’s relatability, and some privatization datas may be used. However, the user can  disable the data used for the advertisement, and in this case as well, ChatGPT’s other privatization features are kept unchanged. OpenAI explained that “the data used for advertisements can be deleted any time”.

Advertisements related to sensitive topics such as politics, health, mental health, and more won’t be exposed. Moreover, in cases when the user is known as less than 18 years old, they won’t be shown.

OpenAI suggested the possibility of developing the advertisement formation as well. Simo CEO said “chat-based interface can go over a simple message or link.” and “the method to ask needed questions after seeing the advertisement, to decide buying the product is  being checked.”

This advertisement implementation is explained as action for profit model diversification in sudden user number increase. ChatGPT consists of more than 800 million weekly users, but most of them don't pay for the plan. After the establishment, Open AI holded about 64 billion dollars of investment, and the pressure of monetization is increasing during competing services such as Google, Gemini, and more.

In the past, Sam Altman, OpenAI CEO, had a cautious  opinion towards advertisement implementation, but recently, he had mentioned that he will “someday try the advertisement.” Nevertheless, he said that the advertisement isn’t going to be the core profit for the company.

Open AI said that they will “keep improving the advertisement method based on the user feedback” and “the rule to consider the user trust and experience as the first priority won’t change.”

▶원문 기사: 이용자 수만 8억명 '챗GPT'...수익성 위해 '광고' 넣는다
 

◆이코노미스트가 글로벌 차세대 경제 리더, 청소년 기자단 영 저널리스트와 함께합니다. 영 저널리스트 기자단은 프리미엄 경제지 이코노미스트, 논술 전문 기관 Ni 에듀케이션과 함께 주요 시사 이슈를 팔로우업하고 직접 기획, 취재, 기사 작성 활동을 하며 사회적 문제를 고심하고 해결 방안을 제시하는 과정을 경험하게 됩니다. 이번 기사는 영 저널리스트 기자단이 이코노미스트 기사를 영문으로 번역하며 이슈를 팔로우업한 기사입니다. 차세대 글로벌 경제 리더, <영 저널리스트 with  이코노미스트> 영문 기사는 매주 연재됩니다.

ⓒ이코노미스트(https://economist.co.kr) '내일을 위한 경제뉴스 이코노미스트' 무단 전재 및 재배포 금지