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How ChatGPT serves ads

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Re: How ChatGPT serves ads

#91

Post by normie3000 »

naruhodo wrote: post #75
kardos wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Once the ads are injected directly into the main response is when things get interesting. This would be where you post-process the LLM response with a second LLM to remove the ad..

I think it will be difficult to remove bias when you ask a model to compare alternative products. The model will simply lie, as with a biased human opinion and you will need to consult multiple models for a diversity of opinion and presumably use a "trusted" model to fuse the results. Anonymity will be a key tool in reducing the model's ability to engage in algorithmic pricing. Super easy. Barely an inconvenience.

> will simply lie, as with a biased human opinion

Is this really how bias works?

Re: How ChatGPT serves ads

#92

Post by chrisweekly »

avaer wrote: post #24

Remember that ads are the "last resort" for OpenAI, and they're doing this despite the fact that it's "uniquely unsettling", according to Sam. Was he lying, or has OpenAI given up hope that this train wreck works economically without enshittification? Neither option is good, but I don't really see a third.

options 1 and 2 are not mutually exclusive

Re: How ChatGPT serves ads

#93

Post by normie3000 »

mh- wrote: post #84
programjames wrote: post #68

Less than two years ago, Sam Altman said > I kind of think of ads as a last resort for us for a business model. I would do it if it meant that was the only way to get everybody in the world access to great services, but if we can find something that doesn't do that, I'd prefer that. So, is this OpenAI announcing they're strapped for cash?

That's not how I read that sentence at all. Maybe I've just been speaking VC for too long. What he meant was: "I'm going to get everybody in the world access to great services. Doing so means monetizing somehow. Ads will be the last way I chose to do that, but I will if it's the only way I can figure out how to achieve that goal."

You've said the same thing.

> Ads will be the last way I chose to do that

The implication is that they've exhausted all other options.

Re: How ChatGPT serves ads

#94

Post by Aurornis »

programjames wrote: post #68

Less than two years ago, Sam Altman said > I kind of think of ads as a last resort for us for a business model. I would do it if it meant that was the only way to get everybody in the world access to great services, but if we can find something that doesn't do that, I'd prefer that. So, is this OpenAI announcing they're strapped for cash?

The ads are for the free tier and new $8 ad-supported plan.

The revenue from a few ads on the free tier in exchange for limited queries to GPT-5.3 is negligible compared to what they pull in from API costs and the subscription plans. This looks like a play to justify the existence of the previously money-losing free tier as they go into an IPO. Throw some ads in there to make it closer to a neutral on the balance sheet.

The key part of that quote was "everybody in the world". The ads are their way of sustaining the low end of the access.

Re: How ChatGPT serves ads

#95

Post by devmor »

kardos wrote: post #45
WD-42 wrote: post #10

Since they are served as distinct events then I would think they should be easy to block. Once the ads are injected directly into the main response is when things get interesting.

> Once the ads are injected directly into the main response is when things get interesting. This would be where you post-process the LLM response with a second LLM to remove the ad..

Then you just end up in an arms race that ultimately leads to photocopy-of-a-photocopy output.

Re: How ChatGPT serves ads

#96

Post by mh- »

normie3000 wrote: post #93
mh- wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not how I read that sentence at all. Maybe I've just been speaking VC for too long. What he meant was: "I'm going to get everybody in the world access to great services. Doing so means monetizing somehow. Ads will be the last way I chose to do that, but I will if it's the only way I can figure out how to achieve that goal."

You've said the same thing. > Ads will be the last way I chose to do that The implication is that they've exhausted all other options.

I haven't said the same thing as the parent commenter:

> So, is this OpenAI announcing they're strapped for cash?

It by no means conveys that. It means they haven't figured out another way to monetize something they want to do; it indicates nothing about their financial situation. It means they don't want to sell something at a loss perpetually while they figure it out.

Re: How ChatGPT serves ads

#97

Post by chrisweekly »

SchemaLoad wrote: post #7
2ndorderthought wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the past month local models have been ramping up in major way meanwhile the namesake providers have upped prices, went offline randomly, and started doing slimier and slimier things. I really think the future is local compute. Or at least self hosted models.

The hosted ones still have the advantage of being able to search the internet for live info rather than being limited to a knowledge cut off date.

That's not how it works. Whether local or hosted, every modern model has a cutoff date for its training data, and can be leveraged by agents / harnesses / tools to fetch context from the internet or wherever.

Re: How ChatGPT serves ads

#99

Post by Dylan16807 »

mh- wrote: post #96
normie3000 wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You've said the same thing. > Ads will be the last way I chose to do that The implication is that they've exhausted all other options.

I haven't said the same thing as the parent commenter: > So, is this OpenAI announcing they're strapped for cash? It by no means conveys that. It means they haven't figured out another way to monetize something they want to do; it indicates nothing about their financial situation. It means they don't want to sell something at a loss perpetually while they figure it out.

Being forced into something you don't want to do, to stop selling at a loss... I would categorize that as some level of strapped for cash.

Re: How ChatGPT serves ads

#100

Post by jcims »

torben-friis wrote: post #62

These are the less worrying kind of ads in our future. Seeing how google has been fighting SEO for ages, what's going to happen when companies figure out how to inject ads into the model? We haven't yet seen the problem of adversarial content in play, I think.

I experimented with this way back when custom GPTs were first released (looks like late 2023). There are a few / commands you can use to suggest what product to inject, how overt, etc and a generic /operator command to send whatever you like 'out of band' from the chat.

https://chatgpt.com/g/g-juO9gDE6l-covert-advertiser

One of the most interesting things is when it starts pitching a product and you start interrogating it about why it picked that product. I haven't used it in probably a year so it may not do the same thing now, but back then it 100% lied consistently and without any speck of remorse. It was rather eye opening.

Edit: Tried again, it didn't lie this time lol - https://chatgpt.com/share/69f16aa4-c008-83ea-92b3-51f16ca77d...

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