As AI costs soar, chatbots edge closer to an ad-filled future

Detailed summary

Many AI platforms will end up eventually adopting advertising, the chief executive of the online advertising agency Criteo told AFP Tuesday, as investors ...

LISBON, Nov 12 — Many AI platforms will end up eventually adopting advertising, the chief executive of the online advertising agency Criteo told AFP Tuesday, as investors are focused on whether the technology will ever be profitable.

“I believe that a lot of AI platforms will find their way to advertising models over time,” said the group’s chief executive Michael Komasinski on the sidelines of the Web Summit in Lisbon.

“Advertising is the most scalable business model in the world. It has paid for most of the large platforms that we all use and enjoy today, whether it’s Google, Meta, Snapchat.

“The ad formats will continue to become more interesting, more innovative, and certainly more native to that conversational experience,” he added.

Pressure to boost revenue to cover its colossal spending pushed OpenAI to begin testing advertising in ChatGPT in February in the United States for free and low-cost tier subscriptions.

It has subsequently begun to progressively roll out ads worldwide, in cooperation with Criteo.

OpenAI’s rival Anthropic, which is set to imminently go public with a stock listing, has said it doesn’t plan to integrate advertising in its AI tools due to data protection concerns as well as to protect the interests of its users.

Microsoft has used ads in its public version of Copilot AI since 2023.

Developing AI models and rolling them out requires massive investments.

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