| ▲ | arm32 4 hours ago |
| I'm confused. This is (publicly stated) the last resort for OpenAI, right? |
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| ▲ | ihumanable 4 hours ago | parent | next [-] |
| In case anyone is out-of-the-loop https://youtu.be/FVRHTWWEIz4?si=btZnQp0IEnmgrtWV&t=2388 "But I kind of think of ads as like a last resort for us for a business model. I would do it if it meant that was the only way to get everybody in the world access to great services. But if we can find something that doesn't do that, I'd prefer that." |
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| ▲ | kamranjon 3 hours ago | parent | next [-] | | What I think is really incredible about this is that they are selling a ton of subscriptions, both personal and business subscriptions. So the fact that they are doing advertising on top of this suggests to me that they are in a deep deep hole, much deeper than he probably would have imagined when making this statement. If your revenue is 25 billion and you still need ads, your costs must be running you down at a pace you really didn't anticipate. | | |
| ▲ | majewsky 3 hours ago | parent | next [-] | | > If your revenue is 25 billion It isn't. They had a one-month period around February that, if every month ran like taht, would constitute a yearly revenue of 25 billion. The fact that they appear to not have published a new annualized revenue number since then suggests that the trend is not upwards, which would make sense with the growing number of companies that are asking questions about ROI on AI expenses and cutting their token spend. | | |
| ▲ | jpadkins 2 hours ago | parent [-] | | I think there are rules about public disclosures in a run up to an IPO. They may not be able to publish updates until the official IPO process begins. |
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| ▲ | wat10000 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-] | | Or they ran the numbers and saw that they'll make more money with ads than without. I doubt they care about anything but the bottom line. |
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| ▲ | f33d5173 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-] | | > But if we can find something that doesn't do that, I'd prefer that. There's nothing plausible that can do that, and he knew that, and was basically just saying "we're going to put ads on it" in a way that challenges you to explain what a better option would be. | | |
| ▲ | bogdan an hour ago | parent [-] | | You're giving Sam too much credit. I think he had no idea that competition would catch up so fast and they got caught with their pants down. |
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| ▲ | verteu 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| Yes, the quote was "Ads plus AI is sort of uniquely unsettling to me. I kind of think of ads as a last resort for us for a business model." (Sam Altman, Harvard 2024) |
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| ▲ | Eliezer 3 hours ago | parent [-] | | Why on Earth would anyone take anything this man said to be informative about anything, other than what he thinks will currently sound best that minute to the current Zeitgeist that day? | | |
| ▲ | nozzlegear 3 hours ago | parent | next [-] | | Just because he's a professional bullshitter doesn't mean he shouldn't be called out every time he waffles. | |
| ▲ | verteu 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-] | | Safely aligning a powerful CEO is difficult. |
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| ▲ | himata4113 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| Yep. Their other ventures fell through and don't exist anymore. |
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| ▲ | arm32 4 hours ago | parent [-] | | Ah, gotcha. Wasn't sure if I was misremembering. I am no longer confused. |
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| ▲ | bunnybomb2 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| I though openAI has plenty of investors/users? Are they really that much in debt/trouble? |
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| ▲ | arm32 4 hours ago | parent | next [-] | | The difference between investors/users and new-investors/paying-users is so large and wide that I could both walk AND roll around on it. | | |
| ▲ | bunnybomb2 4 hours ago | parent [-] | | What if they just forced everyone to pay $5 to use chatgpt? No free tier (I have no MBA) | | |
| ▲ | bstsb 3 hours ago | parent | next [-] | | then every casual user would switch instantly to Gemini, or the most convenient alternative | | | |
| ▲ | Marsymars 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | My jurisdiction just legalized sports betting (or something similar, I don't care all that much about what specifically got legalized), and there's been an immediate explosion in gambling ads across various media formats. A very common refrain is "these ads are terrible, but I refuse to consider paying for any ad-free subscriptions." | |
| ▲ | vovavili 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-] | | This kills their sales funnel. |
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| ▲ | efficax 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | they raised a ton of money but they spend it almost as fast as they can raise it. in any case they need real revenue if they want to ipo | |
| ▲ | 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | [deleted] | |
| ▲ | slekker 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-] | | They are simply spending more money than they are making, burning cash like crazy and they got investments to try and prop up their chest, but this tells me they are desperate |
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| ▲ | moritzwarhier 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| Didn't they do sort of a 270-degree turn on this when they abandoned erotica chatbots? |
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| ▲ | pants2 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| Right - one would assume that if they're on the verge of an ASI that will consume the entire economy, advertising is only a distraction. |
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| ▲ | 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| [deleted] |
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| ▲ | buellerbueller 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| Altman lies. |
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| ▲ | mohamedkoubaa 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| Totally not a bubble right. Right? |
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| ▲ | skywhopper 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| If you believe literally anything Sam Altman says, you are a fool. |
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| ▲ | yieldcrv 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| I don't think they are weighing things that way anymore, so much leadership has departed |
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| ▲ | awesome_dude 4 hours ago | parent | prev [-] |
| Advertising is every site's last resort - but it's the only damn thing that pays the bills |
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