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Anthropic seems to want to make you buy a subscription, not show you ads. ChatGPT seems to be more popular to those who don't want to pay, and they are therefo

by GuB-42 1y ago

Anthropic seems to want to make you buy a subscription, not show you ads. ChatGPT seems to be more popular to those who don't want to pay, and they are therefore more likely to rely on ads.

cantor_S_drug 1y ago
They might be coming from different directions. But these things, as often they do, will converge. Too big of a market to leave.
mrheosuper 1y ago
so ChatGPT will become "saleman". And i do not trust any saleman.
- __MatrixMan__ 1y ago
  They're all salesmen, they were trained on the web which is jam packed with SEO content.
  - aswegs8 1y ago
    Interesting point. Never thought about AI slop being fed by SEO slop.
- FergusArgyll 1y ago
  The plan is not ads said by chatgpt - it's ads on the side that are relevant to the conversartion (or you in general). Or affiliate links. That's my understanding.
- bigfishrunning 1y ago
  You shouldn't be trusting an LLM either, so this is a real sideways move.
chii 1y ago
and netflix used to think they dont want to show ads either.
- matwood 1y ago
  Netflix likely doesn't want to show ads, but the market would rather watch ads than pay full price for a service. https://www.theverge.com/news/667042/netflix-ad-supported-tier-94-million-users-upfront-2025 https://www.theverge.com/news/667042/netflix-ad-supported-ti...
  - chii 1y ago
    > the market would rather watch ads no, netflix wants more income, and by having a product be ad supported, they can try to earn more. The "market" is not a person, and doesn't have "wants".
    - matwood 1y ago
      From the article: > Netflix has more than doubled the number of people watching its ad-supported tier over the last year. At its upfront presentation for advertisers on Wednesday, the company revealed that the $7.99 per month plan now reaches more than 94 million users around the world each month – a big increase from the 40 million it reported in May 2024 and the 70 million it revealed last November. 1/3 of Netflix users (the market) prefer ads over paying to avoid them.
      - rkomorn 1y ago
        This leaves me somewhere between surprised and shocked.
        FooBarWidget 1y ago
        Maybe you shouldn't be. The ad-hating paranoid HN user is not representative of the general population. Probably the exact opposite, in fact. My wife and mother love ads, they are always on the hunt for the latest good deals and love discount shopping. When I tried to remove the ads on their computers or in the postal mail, they protested. I think they are far more representative of the general population.
serf 1y ago
as a former paying user it felt more like they were buying my subscription with a decent product so that they could sell their business prospects to investors by claiming a high subscription count. I have never encountered such bad customer service anywhere -- and at 200 bucks a month at that.
- puilp0502 1y ago
  Can you elaborate on the "bad customer service"? I've never engaged in Claude's support team, but curious to know what you've experienced.
forgotoldacc 1y ago
In the 2020s, subscriptions don't preclude showing ads. Companies will milk money in as many ways as they can
- anon1395 1y ago
  (Netflix as an example)
  - GuB-42 1y ago
    And cable companies, and magazines. This is not something from the 2020s, it is a centuries old thing. But these are entertainment. For all the time advertising has been present, work tools have been relatively immune. I don't remember seeing ads in IDE for instance, and while magazines had ads, technical documents didn't. I have never seen electronic components datasheets pitching for measuring equipment and soldering irons for instance. That's why I don't expect Anthropic to go with ads it they follow the path they seem to have taken, like coding agents. People using these tools are likely to react very badly to ads, if there is some space to put ads in the first place, and these are also the kind of people who can spend $100/month on a subscription, way more than what ads will get you.
- dspillett 1y ago
  And even a subscription that gives a truly ad-free experience doesn't preclude the bit that I actually object to most: collecting data about me & my activity and selling it on.
- deleted 1y ago
  [deleted]

by GuB-42 1y ago

Anthropic seems to want to make you buy a subscription, not show you ads. ChatGPT seems to be more popular to those who don't want to pay, and they are therefore more likely to rely on ads.

cantor_S_drug 1y ago

They might be coming from different directions. But these things, as often they do, will converge. Too big of a market to leave.

mrheosuper 1y ago

so ChatGPT will become "saleman". And i do not trust any saleman.

__MatrixMan__ 1y ago
They're all salesmen, they were trained on the web which is jam packed with SEO content.
- aswegs8 1y ago
  Interesting point. Never thought about AI slop being fed by SEO slop.
FergusArgyll 1y ago
The plan is not ads said by chatgpt - it's ads on the side that are relevant to the conversartion (or you in general). Or affiliate links. That's my understanding.
bigfishrunning 1y ago
You shouldn't be trusting an LLM either, so this is a real sideways move.

chii 1y ago

and netflix used to think they dont want to show ads either.

matwood 1y ago
Netflix likely doesn't want to show ads, but the market would rather watch ads than pay full price for a service. https://www.theverge.com/news/667042/netflix-ad-supported-tier-94-million-users-upfront-2025 https://www.theverge.com/news/667042/netflix-ad-supported-ti...
- chii 1y ago
  > the market would rather watch ads no, netflix wants more income, and by having a product be ad supported, they can try to earn more. The "market" is not a person, and doesn't have "wants".
  - matwood 1y ago
    From the article: > Netflix has more than doubled the number of people watching its ad-supported tier over the last year. At its upfront presentation for advertisers on Wednesday, the company revealed that the $7.99 per month plan now reaches more than 94 million users around the world each month – a big increase from the 40 million it reported in May 2024 and the 70 million it revealed last November. 1/3 of Netflix users (the market) prefer ads over paying to avoid them.
    - rkomorn 1y ago
      This leaves me somewhere between surprised and shocked.
      - FooBarWidget 1y ago
        Maybe you shouldn't be. The ad-hating paranoid HN user is not representative of the general population. Probably the exact opposite, in fact. My wife and mother love ads, they are always on the hunt for the latest good deals and love discount shopping. When I tried to remove the ads on their computers or in the postal mail, they protested. I think they are far more representative of the general population.

serf 1y ago

as a former paying user it felt more like they were buying my subscription with a decent product so that they could sell their business prospects to investors by claiming a high subscription count. I have never encountered such bad customer service anywhere -- and at 200 bucks a month at that.

puilp0502 1y ago
Can you elaborate on the "bad customer service"? I've never engaged in Claude's support team, but curious to know what you've experienced.

forgotoldacc 1y ago

In the 2020s, subscriptions don't preclude showing ads. Companies will milk money in as many ways as they can

anon1395 1y ago
(Netflix as an example)
- GuB-42 1y ago
  And cable companies, and magazines. This is not something from the 2020s, it is a centuries old thing. But these are entertainment. For all the time advertising has been present, work tools have been relatively immune. I don't remember seeing ads in IDE for instance, and while magazines had ads, technical documents didn't. I have never seen electronic components datasheets pitching for measuring equipment and soldering irons for instance. That's why I don't expect Anthropic to go with ads it they follow the path they seem to have taken, like coding agents. People using these tools are likely to react very badly to ads, if there is some space to put ads in the first place, and these are also the kind of people who can spend $100/month on a subscription, way more than what ads will get you.
dspillett 1y ago
And even a subscription that gives a truly ad-free experience doesn't preclude the bit that I actually object to most: collecting data about me & my activity and selling it on.
deleted 1y ago
[deleted]