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It's an insane number considering how little they monetize it. Free users are not even seeing ads rn and they already have 4.5B revenue. I think 100B by 2029 is

It's an insane number considering how little they monetize it. Free users are not even seeing ads rn and they already have 4.5B revenue. I think 100B by 2029 is a very conservative number.

silisili 1y ago
I'm in awe they are still allowing free users at all. And I'm one of them. The free tier is enough for me to use it as a helper at work, and I'd probably pay for it tomorrow if they cut off the free tier.
- sdesol 1y ago
  > I'm in awe they are still allowing free users at all. I am not. > The free tier is enough for me to use it as a helper at work, and I'd probably pay for it tomorrow if they cut off the free tier. You are sort of proving the point that thid isn't crazy. They want to be the dealer of choice and they can afford to give you the hit now for free.
- wodenokoto 1y ago
  It’s not that they are “allowing free user at all” they are expanding their free offerings. Last year I paid $20/month for ChatGPT. This year I haven’t paid anything though my usage has only increased.
- hiq 1y ago
  > I'd probably pay for it tomorrow if they cut off the free tier. Why would you pay if you can use a competitor for free?
  - silisili 1y ago
    I've used them all, and they all have their place I guess. ChatGPT is far and away my favorite for quick questions you'd ask the genius coworker next to you. For me, nothing else even comes close wrt speed and accuracy. So for that, I'd gladly pay. Don't get me wrong, Claude is a marvel and Deepseek punches above its weight, but neither compare with stuff like 'write me a sql query that does these 30 things as efficiently as possible.'. ChatGPT will output an answer with explanations for each line by the time Claude inevitably times out...again.
dfsegoat 1y ago
...not monetized yet: Can't find the post, but a prev. HN post had a link to an article showing that OpenAI had hired someone from Meta's ad service leadership - so I took that to mean it's a matter of time. edit: believe it was Fidji Simo et al. https://www.pymnts.com/artificial-intelligence-2/2025/openai-searching-for-ad-chief-to-bolster-monetization/ https://www.pymnts.com/artificial-intelligence-2/2025/openai...
deleted 1y ago
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JeremyNT 1y ago
Sure but they're not selling ads because the lack of ads is the unique selling point of the consumer product. It's a loss leader to build the brand for the b2b / gov stuff. If they junk up the consumer experience too much users can just switch to Google who, obviously is the behemoth in the ad space. Obviously there's money to be made there but they have no moat - I feel like despite the first mover advantage their position is tenuous and ads risk disrupting that edge with consumers.
- t0mas88 1y ago
  But their edge with consumers is huge. Just like "to Google" is a verb for web search for many consumers, ChatGPT is AI to them.
  - degamad 1y ago
    Some of us remember when Google was just an upstart and anyone who wanted to do anything serious used Altavista or MetaCrawler. Even the behemoths can get taken out.

It's an insane number considering how little they monetize it. Free users are not even seeing ads rn and they already have 4.5B revenue. I think 100B by 2029 is a very conservative number.

silisili 1y ago

I'm in awe they are still allowing free users at all. And I'm one of them. The free tier is enough for me to use it as a helper at work, and I'd probably pay for it tomorrow if they cut off the free tier.

sdesol 1y ago
> I'm in awe they are still allowing free users at all. I am not. > The free tier is enough for me to use it as a helper at work, and I'd probably pay for it tomorrow if they cut off the free tier. You are sort of proving the point that thid isn't crazy. They want to be the dealer of choice and they can afford to give you the hit now for free.
wodenokoto 1y ago
It’s not that they are “allowing free user at all” they are expanding their free offerings. Last year I paid $20/month for ChatGPT. This year I haven’t paid anything though my usage has only increased.
hiq 1y ago
> I'd probably pay for it tomorrow if they cut off the free tier. Why would you pay if you can use a competitor for free?
- silisili 1y ago
  I've used them all, and they all have their place I guess. ChatGPT is far and away my favorite for quick questions you'd ask the genius coworker next to you. For me, nothing else even comes close wrt speed and accuracy. So for that, I'd gladly pay. Don't get me wrong, Claude is a marvel and Deepseek punches above its weight, but neither compare with stuff like 'write me a sql query that does these 30 things as efficiently as possible.'. ChatGPT will output an answer with explanations for each line by the time Claude inevitably times out...again.

dfsegoat 1y ago

...not monetized yet: Can't find the post, but a prev. HN post had a link to an article showing that OpenAI had hired someone from Meta's ad service leadership - so I took that to mean it's a matter of time. edit: believe it was Fidji Simo et al. https://www.pymnts.com/artificial-intelligence-2/2025/openai-searching-for-ad-chief-to-bolster-monetization/ https://www.pymnts.com/artificial-intelligence-2/2025/openai...

deleted 1y ago

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JeremyNT 1y ago

Sure but they're not selling ads because the lack of ads is the unique selling point of the consumer product. It's a loss leader to build the brand for the b2b / gov stuff. If they junk up the consumer experience too much users can just switch to Google who, obviously is the behemoth in the ad space. Obviously there's money to be made there but they have no moat - I feel like despite the first mover advantage their position is tenuous and ads risk disrupting that edge with consumers.

t0mas88 1y ago
But their edge with consumers is huge. Just like "to Google" is a verb for web search for many consumers, ChatGPT is AI to them.
- degamad 1y ago
  Some of us remember when Google was just an upstart and anyone who wanted to do anything serious used Altavista or MetaCrawler. Even the behemoths can get taken out.