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We're Joining OpenAI

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Re: We're Joining OpenAI

#61

Post by ants_everywhere »

layoric wrote: post #25
dcchambers wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are people really going to keep using these AI tools if they start shoving ads down our throats?

Just by the nature of the product, the manipulation will be a lot more subtle, and likely more successful than traditional ads..

This is true, but it doesn't go far enough. Google could serve you ads, like LLMs will.

But LLMs can be used to astroturf internet spaces. Which means they allow everyone the ability to serve ads and manipulate. It's no longer just limited to the company providing the original service.

Re: We're Joining OpenAI

#62

Post by CamperBob2 »

rjh29 wrote: post #60
CamperBob2 wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That hasn't been true for a while IME. Did you select 'Robot' as the personality?

I have Default personality with the traits field set to straight-shooter ("Tell it like it is; don't sugar-coat responses.") I'll try the robot one, thanks.

Yeah, that's a recent addition, as far as I can tell. It became available in my account a few weeks ago. I currently use 'Robot' mode, call myself a 'Researcher', and use these custom instructions:

    Answer concisely when appropriate, more extensively 
    when necessary.  Avoid rhetorical flourishes, bonhomie, 
    and (above all) cliches.  Take a forward-thinking view. 
    OK to be mildly positive and encouraging but NEVER 
    sycophantic or cloying.  Above all, NEVER use the 
    phrase "You're absolutely right."  Rather than "Let me 
    know if..." style continuations, you may list a set 
    of prompts to explore further topics, but only when 
    clearly appropriate.
Pretty happy with the results so far. Very low BS factor (although it does ignore the last part sometimes.)

Re: We're Joining OpenAI

#63

Post by imiric »

unyttigfjelltol wrote: post #53
rjh29 wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

ChatGPT is already returning lists of products (with photos and rating) saying they are impartial, I guess to collect affiliate fees. It's not a big jump to have sponsored products showing up first.

If folks corrupt the integrity of LLM responses, as it were, they’ll destroy the value proposition. More likely the model will be payment for low friction enablement of transactions rather than overt steering. Pick Door #1: the LLM states the product is fit for purpose. Pick Door #2: the LLM will directly complete the transaction or close to it.

> If folks corrupt the integrity of LLM responses, as it were, they’ll destroy the value proposition.

Highly unlikely. Google's SERP is an ad-infested abomination that sometimes shows useful results, and yet people still use Google Search.

The same will happen with LLMs, except in far more subtle and insidious ways. Instead of showing you ads directly, they will be naturally interwoven in conversations, suggestions, and generated content. You won't be able to tell whether the content is genuine or promoted, as is common on the web today.

The ads will target you more accurately than ever before based on not just the data you've given them, but on the context of the conversation, your surroundings, and any other piece of real-time information they can use to secure a conversion, or to influence your thoughts on a particular matter. You will trust it more than any current ad channel since the AI will be personal, and the tone will be friendly.

As with the web, ad-free services will exist, but the only way to escape this entirely will be to use local and self-hosted models.

Re: We're Joining OpenAI

#64

Post by [deleted] »

MOARDONGZPLZ wrote: post #18
eCa wrote: post #12

I don't use Alex so this doesn't affect me, but: > our plan is to continue serving you. How many months until OpenAI no longer feels it?

Since time immemorial acquired companies have claimed this sort of thing and then the acquiring companies have shut it down quick. Practically a meme at this point.

[deleted]

Re: We're Joining OpenAI

#66

Post by tern »

gabelschlager wrote: post #33
whinvik wrote: post #26

The failed Windsurf bid and this makes me think OpenAI feels they need to focus more on the coding agent use case. Still thinking about the endgame. Its not obvious to me if OpenAI/Anthropic will become competitors to coding startups like Cursor or continue to be model providers.

I think the endgame is a shift toward a platform of services that tightly bind users to a single LLM provider. Right now, many small startups are essentially just thin wrappers around ChatGPT. Once it becomes clear which ideas and solutions gain real traction, providers like OpenAI/Anthropic can simply roll out those features natively removing any need for a third party. In a sense, a lot of what happened with the mo…

This seems correct to me. I'm unusually appreciative of vertical integration (life-long Apple user, etc.), and I can already feel the vendor lock-in tightening. I have no need for anything other than my ChatGPT subscription, and adding other tools appears to offer marginal gain at double the cost.

This type of bundling appears to be one of the strongest forces in the economy today, and I think comes about consistently due to a confluence of efficiencies of scale, coordination, and second-order effects of prestige (being able to hire and pay large numbers of outlier high performing employees, etc.)

I've learned not to bet against it, except in niche areas.

Re: We're Joining OpenAI

#68

Post by dcchambers »

babelfish wrote: post #38
dcchambers wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are people really going to keep using these AI tools if they start shoving ads down our throats?

Do you use any free web search tool?

I actually switched from Google to Kagi a few years ago. Whenever possible I avoid products with advertisements.

Re: We're Joining OpenAI

#69

Post by morkalork »

kridsdale3 wrote: post #15
CyberMacGyver wrote: post #11

At this rate it’s better to start a company and get aquihired vs applying and getting hired. Seems like OpenAI speed ran through the Facebook phase and are out of ideas

Au contraire, based on their recent hires, they're just beginning their Facebook phase. Expect to see a lot of ads 2 years from now, and expect to see a LOT of money being made by the company a year after that. If they can maintain runway until then.

Who will pull the ads trigger first, OpenAI or Google I wonder. Whoever leads could lose a lot of users to the other, but they will soon follow.

Re: We're Joining OpenAI

#70

Post by ankit219 »

bobbiechen wrote: post #50
bobbiechen wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wrote about this idea here: https://digitalseams.com/blog/the-ai-lifestyle-subsidy-is-go... Quick summary, I believe consumer AI experiences will feature ads because the profit opportunity is too large and company valuations depend on it. The hiring of Fidji Simo (ads at Facebook) at OpenAI + and just this week, Vijaye Raji/Statsig also point that way.

(me again) and Drew Breunig just posted about the tensions of actually getting those ads in: https://www.dbreunig.com/2025/09/02/considering-ad-models-fo...

I like the thesis, (and probably not a fully informed opinion here), it's easier for openai like router to go the affiliate model than ads model. Router can determine how much a query is worth (eg: help plan a vacation is worth $50 vs say what is the capital of Australia as $0). This further informs how much compute to use, and this can lead to how much they get on affiliate fees if a link is clicked. Ads here are counter to the proposition in the sense that results are to be trusted. Then, despite everything, while contextual ads are good, personalized ads are still going to be more effective (gut feel). To get there, openai needs the kind of infra Facebook and Google has. They can get the same value (perhaps more) from affiliate links - especially in a world where they are kind of gateway to the discovery - and don't have to do as much work on the infra side. This also aligns incentives for all three - companies, consumers, and middlemen, in a way it only happened with Google before this.
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