7 ms·

Hah, OpenAI is becoming an ads business too. So much for something new, same old funding model for every centralized platform on the web.

troymc 2y ago
OpenAI has ads? I thought it was mostly a freemium business model.
- SethMLarson 2y ago
  I'm saying that by moving towards explicit "search" and "linking to sources" they have set the stage for being able to charge to be recommended by their search features (ie, ads and pay-to-rank, same as Google search). There aren't any ads in their demo, we haven't seen the real deal yet, but I'll be watching HN for that day.
  - soheil 2y ago
    Why, just because search has ads therefore anything that is a superset of that must also?
    - littlestymaar 2y ago
      Over the past two decades, ads have proven to be the only way to make money over the internet…
      - ascorbic 2y ago
        They're making $300 million per month in revenue right now, with no ads.
        opdahl 2y ago
        That is what Google makes in less than half a day by selling ads. It’s a rounding error on their monthly revenue.
    - croes 2y ago
      Because ads bring money and companies love money
breck 2y ago
If they are making billions from subscriptions, why on earth would they want to switch to an ads business?
- RodgerTheGreat 2y ago
  Might have something to do with the fact that they're also still losing billions operating their services at a loss!
  - nomel 2y ago
    Seems like the sane thing to do with would be put ads on those using the service for free.
    - RodgerTheGreat 2y ago
      but the capitalist thing to do would be to put ads on both the paid and free versions of the service and infuriate all your customers to add penny shavings to your short-term bottom line!
      - leosanchez 2y ago
        First ads on free version then "limited ads" on paid version while creating another tier for paid users for more money
      - nomel 2y ago
        No, the capitalist thing to do would be to optimize profit. Optimizing profit isn't some trivial thing, when there's competition (as there is now). It's literally optimizing the desire and will for people to pull money out of their wallet and give it to you. It's a chaotic system with many attractors. If adding ads causes a reduction in profit, from people moving to add free LLM (there are many), then it would be capitalist, in the interest of profit, to not have ads. And, let's say there's a scenario where all the companies have ads, the capitalist thing to do might be to remove ads, to capture all the users that don't want them. Sure, once competition is gone, capitalism stops working, but we're not even close when it comes to AI.

troymc 2y ago

OpenAI has ads? I thought it was mostly a freemium business model.

SethMLarson 2y ago
I'm saying that by moving towards explicit "search" and "linking to sources" they have set the stage for being able to charge to be recommended by their search features (ie, ads and pay-to-rank, same as Google search). There aren't any ads in their demo, we haven't seen the real deal yet, but I'll be watching HN for that day.
- soheil 2y ago
  Why, just because search has ads therefore anything that is a superset of that must also?
  - littlestymaar 2y ago
    Over the past two decades, ads have proven to be the only way to make money over the internet…
    - ascorbic 2y ago
      They're making $300 million per month in revenue right now, with no ads.
      - opdahl 2y ago
        That is what Google makes in less than half a day by selling ads. It’s a rounding error on their monthly revenue.
  - croes 2y ago
    Because ads bring money and companies love money

breck 2y ago

If they are making billions from subscriptions, why on earth would they want to switch to an ads business?

RodgerTheGreat 2y ago
Might have something to do with the fact that they're also still losing billions operating their services at a loss!
- nomel 2y ago
  Seems like the sane thing to do with would be put ads on those using the service for free.
  - RodgerTheGreat 2y ago
    but the capitalist thing to do would be to put ads on both the paid and free versions of the service and infuriate all your customers to add penny shavings to your short-term bottom line!
    - leosanchez 2y ago
      First ads on free version then "limited ads" on paid version while creating another tier for paid users for more money
    - nomel 2y ago
      No, the capitalist thing to do would be to optimize profit. Optimizing profit isn't some trivial thing, when there's competition (as there is now). It's literally optimizing the desire and will for people to pull money out of their wallet and give it to you. It's a chaotic system with many attractors. If adding ads causes a reduction in profit, from people moving to add free LLM (there are many), then it would be capitalist, in the interest of profit, to not have ads. And, let's say there's a scenario where all the companies have ads, the capitalist thing to do might be to remove ads, to capture all the users that don't want them. Sure, once competition is gone, capitalism stops working, but we're not even close when it comes to AI.