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Predicting OpenAI's ad strategy

ossa-ma.github.io

251–260 of 552 posts

Re: Predicting OpenAI's ad strategy

#251

There is something to be said about the state of advertising. Increasingly it seems you must go to the almighty Google or Meta in order to launch any business. We're looking to expand into a new business line and have out grown our pharmacy capacity. The new business line will cost about $2M in software dev, and $3M for the new facility. The advertising budget? $40,000,000 (annual). We can build 10 robotic pharmacies…

Advertising is a tax that goes to an oligopolistic cartel.

I've never gotten $2 for $1 of tax I paid. At best I'm getting $1 of services back, usually much less.

Re: Predicting OpenAI's ad strategy

#252
post #241
post #209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Advertising spend being too high is a symptom of a supply glut. Too many products in the marketplace, not enough consumers to buy them. In a different world where there are higher wages, more people would have more spending power. Then companies wouldn't have to spend as many dollars on advertising, which they could split between higher wages, higher margins and lower prices. Alas, the short-term single-firm directio…

>Maybe Henry Ford was on to something when he shocked the world by paying his employees enough to afford the product they were making (more than doubling many workers' wages)... That's a nice story to tell, but the economics never works out if you do the math. Whatever extra wages you pay, you only get a fraction of that back in increased sales. How much percent of a worker's income do you think is spent on a car? As…

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Re: Predicting OpenAI's ad strategy

#253
post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In order to sell anything, people need to know about it. Google and Meta provide a way to make this possible. If they didn't exist, you wouldn't somehow have a more affordable way to get people to know about your product. However frustrating the current situation is, it is still more accessible than needing access to the airwaves or print media to try to sell anything new.

> In order to sell anything, people need to know about it. Google and Meta provide a way to make this possible. If they didn't exist, you wouldn't somehow have a more affordable way to get people to know about your product. However frustrating the current situation is, it is still more accessible than needing access to the airwaves or print media to try to sell anything new. The places people can find out about your…

but that’s not really true. You’re not paying, you’re bidding. You are competing against thousands of other advertisers for eyeballs. If you are the only advertiser targeting a group of people, you will spend almost nothing to advertise. If you are targeting a group of people that everyone targets (e.g: rich people in their 30s) you will pay through the nose.

Facebook, Google etc. are the most “fair” forms of advertising. We can dislike advertising, their influence, product etc. but when you compare them to almost every other type of advertising, they’re the best for advertisers.

The reason they generate so much revenue is because they are so accessible and because they are so easy to account for. The reason LTV and CAC are so widely understood by businesses today is because of what Google, Facebook etc. offer.

Re: Predicting OpenAI's ad strategy

#254

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Rent seeking is all Capitalism is about. They call it a moat.

This is misuse of language. Rent seeking is anti-competitive by definition. The current system, as far as it encourages and rewards rent seeking, is anti-capitalist.

Just like communism practice is not communism in theory.

Re: Predicting OpenAI's ad strategy

#255
post #191

The ad based business model is the most destructive technology of the new millennium. The whole point of advertising, to make people feel unsatisfied with their current life. The current state of the world makes perfect sense when you think of the last 20 years we've been cultivating fear, and dissatisfaction among the populace. All in the hopes of selling 0.1% more widgets.

you thought the business model is any different in the 20th century? I recommend you watch the TV series Mad Men

mad men is fiction

Re: Predicting OpenAI's ad strategy

#256

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is misuse of language. Rent seeking is anti-competitive by definition. The current system, as far as it encourages and rewards rent seeking, is anti-capitalist.

If monopolies are "non capitalistic", then why has every capitalist economy in history had such a tendency towards creating large monopolies? The same cab certainly not be said any those economies producing, say, worker control of the means of production.

Every economy tends towards monopoly because people like power and will corrupt and exploit any system to gain abd hold it.

That's a human problem.

Re: Predicting OpenAI's ad strategy

#257

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>AI was never about improving civilization; it was always about money. Why not both? It has diagnosed patients who were unsolved by humans. And it was cheaper than doctors.

Why not mow a lawn with a sledgehammer? It removed grass that was overgrown. And it was cheaper than a lawnmower.

Your analogy doesn't work.

This patient saw 6 doctors over 2 years and they all misdiagnosed them. They were taking incredibly strong medication for the wrong diagnosis.

GPT3 in 30 seconds gave 10 diagnosis and a doctor looked up the ones they didn't know. Saw one that fit, did the confirmation test, and the patient got the surgery needed.

Cheaper and better.

Re: Predicting OpenAI's ad strategy

#258

There is something to be said about the state of advertising. Increasingly it seems you must go to the almighty Google or Meta in order to launch any business. We're looking to expand into a new business line and have out grown our pharmacy capacity. The new business line will cost about $2M in software dev, and $3M for the new facility. The advertising budget? $40,000,000 (annual). We can build 10 robotic pharmacies…

“ Increasingly we wonder why America doesn't build more and here is why.”

Building another advertising network isnt like building a factory or a bridge. Its not something money can magically make appear.

You need to build something that is either very very addicting to use or an universally useful online product like ChatGPT or a new search engine.

If it was that easy, capitalists would be building another new advertising network in droves

Re: Predicting OpenAI's ad strategy

#259

I’m fascinated at how out of touch that NYT article is. It’s as if it was written by someone who just spent 3 years on the moon. “The next big thing will be agents: The models will fill digital shopping baskets and take care of online bills. They will act for you.” Golly Mr two times Pulitzer nominee, do tell us more! There is a kind of liberal arts elite that seems to not be using AI very much and not be buying any…

Now you can pay them twice: once to access the tool to do your job and once to access the market for customers.

Definitely no reason to worry about an entrenched oligopoly there.

Re: Predicting OpenAI's ad strategy

#260

Ads aren't a long-term viable model for tools. Each year it gets more feasible to self host tools (email being the od exception, but there are still many ad free alternatives). Ads shifting vehicles to AI will extend the lifetime a bit, but even still local models are getting better and that's without even much architectural advancement. I don't see an end to advertising all together though, public spaces and enterta…

I'm not so sure. Much like search engines, you can run one yourself or pay Kagi but most people prefer to keep their money and deal with the ads. Streaming services have demonstrated that people have a pretty high tolerance for ads.
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