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Google DeepMind’s chief executive, Demis Hassabis, expressed surprise over OpenAI’s swift decision to incorporate advertising into its popular ChatGPT service. Speaking during an interview with Axios at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Hassabis addressed the challenges of funding AI technologies through ads, noting that his team at Google is approaching the topic with deliberate caution.
He emphasized that despite advertising being central to Google’s overall operations, there’s no rush at DeepMind to implement such changes hastily in their AI offerings. This comes shortly after reports that OpenAI plans to experiment with targeted ads aimed at its vast free user base, which boasts around 800 million weekly active users, as a means to offset escalating operational expenses.
OpenAI’s move appears driven by surging demands on its data centers and power consumption, which have intensified the need for new income streams beyond subscriptions. Hassabis acknowledged that advertising has long supported much of the internet’s growth and can even provide value when executed properly. However, he raised concerns about its suitability for AI chatbots designed as personal assistants.
In these interactive scenarios, where the AI aims to build trust and offer tailored support, inserting ads might undermine the user’s experience, he suggested. Hassabis pointed out that Google currently has no intentions of adding ads to its own AI interfaces, preferring to observe how OpenAI’s experiment unfolds and gauge user reactions before proceeding.
Consumer resistance to ad-like elements in AI interactions isn’t new. Just last month, OpenAI faced criticism for introducing chat recommendations that many perceived as disguised promotions, prompting the company to quickly disable the feature despite insisting it wasn’t monetized. The backlash stemmed not from financial incentives but from how these interruptions disrupted the seamless flow of conversations.
Hassabis highlighted a key distinction between traditional search engines and conversational AI. In search, user queries reveal clear intentions, allowing for relevant ad placements. Chatbots, by contrast, evolve into intimate helpers that draw on personal context to assist across daily tasks, necessitating a more nuanced approach to commercialization.
Google is advancing this vision with recent updates to its Gemini AI, enabling optional integration with users’ Gmail and Photos for more customized responses in search and app features. This personalization push underscores a focus on utility over immediate revenue tactics. Past efforts, like Amazon’s attempts to weave ads into Alexa responses, similarly met with user pushback, as people sought genuine assistance rather than sales pitches.
While open to future possibilities, Hassabis stressed DeepMind’s commitment to methodical progress, free from external pressures to rush product decisions involving advertising or other innovations.
