ChatGPT moves forward with CEO’s ‘Last Resort’

HAVING BURNED THROUGH about $8 billion of cash in 2025, Open AI seems in desperate need of revenue.

- PARMY OLSON

Now it’s jumping into what chief executive Sam Altman described in 2024 as the company’s last resort: showing ads in ChatGPT. Doing this speaks to the financial pressures his firm is under.

Investors will cheer at the effort to beef up its top line and compete with Google, which is preparing to run adverts in its chatbot too, and online advertising is one of the most successful businesses of all time. It has kept large swathes of the internet free and dynamic. But it has also been socially damaging, incentivising rage bait, misinformation and other toxic by products of our smart phones.Open AI says it won’t go the same way.