In an interview with the Financial Times, Sarah Friar, OpenAI's chief financial officer, said she did not rule out the possibility of showing ads to non-paying users, although the company still has many concerns about this.
Advertising could be a way to increase revenue, she said, especially since the cost of maintaining artificial intelligence (AI) servers is so high.
OpenAI is now valued at more than $150 billion. The company is said to have spent $5 billion this year on AI training.
Selling ad spots on ChatGPT could be a way to increase revenue from the platform and maintain a free version for users.
OpenAI hired several advertising staffers from Meta and Google earlier this year. But Friar said OpenAI needs to be “careful about when and how” it deploys advertising, and she suggested that it might not happen anytime soon.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is reportedly “gradually embracing the idea,” despite previously stating that he “dislikes advertising in general” and sees it as a “last resort.”
OpenAI currently charges $20 per month for ChatGPT Plus, a premium version of its chatbot that provides access to the latest language models, higher message limits, and visualization capabilities. The company also offers premium subscription plans for teams and businesses.
