Fast Five Shorts | Pro Or Con: OpenAI Deploying Ads?
In the latest edition of Omni Talk’s Retail Fast Five, sponsored by the A&M Consumer and Retail Group, Avalara, Mirakl, Ownit AI, and Ocampo Capital Chris Walton and Anne Mezzenga discuss if they're Pro Or Con: OpenAI Deploying Ads
For the full episode head here: https://youtu.be/JwnJXUy6y20
This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:
Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacy
Transcript
OpenAI is thinking about deploying chatbot ads.
Speaker A:Shocker.
Speaker A:According to Axios, OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar told the Financial Times that OpenAI is weighing the inclusion of ads in its products, but wants to be, quote, thoughtful about when and where we implement them.
Speaker A:End quote.
Speaker A:Chris this is also the A and M Put yout on the Spot question.
Speaker A:Um, they have to say this.
Speaker A:A couple of months ago we talked about Amazon embedding ads in its Rufus Gen AI search.
Speaker A:But, but at least that use case was based on product search.
Speaker A:When you talk about Embedding ads in OpenAI for any variety of search queries, how worried are you about this potentially disrupting the authenticity of results in commerce skewing non commerce conversations?
Speaker B:Chris oh wow.
Speaker B:I'm not really worried about it at all, Ann.
Speaker B:I'm not.
Speaker B:Because I mean, I think it already exists.
Speaker B:I mean, Google already exists, totally.
Speaker B:You know, everyone's used to it.
Speaker B:So I mean, and the other thing I think about too is like, who doesn't want more ads in their life?
Speaker B:Like, honestly, like who doesn't, who doesn't want more ads?
Speaker B:But there's probably a few people.
Speaker B:But, but you know, I think the other thing that's interesting about this is they alluded to in the article the fact that they're also thinking about launching a browser.
Speaker B:So they're clearly going after Google's territory here.
Speaker B:And so like, since it already makes sense, I don't, yeah, I don't see any, any worries that I have as a user or, you know, a consumer here.
Speaker B:But you know, when I step back from the whole thing.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:Step back, look at it from a higher level.
Speaker B:I like this move because, you know, it should mean free access for consumers that want to use tools like this.
Speaker B:That's the thing about this, you know, it should also mean more deals on the products that I want to buy, like you were talking about in the first headline.
Speaker B:And the fact that last week we talked about perplexity, charging pro users to shop via their interface means that OpenAI is definitely going to go all in on this.
Speaker B:You called it out in our show last week too.
Speaker B:They're going to go all in on the freemium model specifically, and therefore, of course, they're going to deploy ads.
Speaker B:So, so, so while they're evaluating it to your point, it's a foregone conclusion at the end of the day.
Speaker B:And if you look at the rise of the other point I'd make here to close is like, if you look at the rise of social media services, even streaming services, now everything eventually appears to be going the way of freemium with ads, or at least lower cost with ads.
Speaker B:So net, net ads, ads and more ads.
Speaker B:And I want to consume and it's the cheapest, most affordable way for me as a consumer to do it.
Speaker B:So bring it on.
Speaker B:That's what I say.
Speaker B:What do you think?
Speaker A:So here.
Speaker A:And maybe I'm missing something.
Speaker A:So listeners.
Speaker A:Chris, call me out if I am.
Speaker A:But my problem is like, all of These sources that OpenAI is pulling from, they're from content that some of which has been created for profit.
Speaker A:Like, they're, they're from, you know, it's from an article in Refinery 29, like a reference with perplexity last week that's rating, like, what are the best content?
Speaker B:Inherently biased content.
Speaker A:Exactly.
Speaker A:So I'm like, there's no, there's no unbiased content anywhere, really.
Speaker A:Like, I just, I don't think that that's a possibility.
Speaker A:So that word keeps getting thrown in here.
Speaker A:And I have a problem with that because I, I think they're, they're mistaking, like, where everybody's gathering all this information from.
Speaker A:So.
Speaker B:Yeah, but I think, but Ann, hold on a sec.
Speaker B:Because I say that's today, right?
Speaker B:Like you just talked about in the last, like, now you've got live streaming, you've got influencers playing more of a role.
Speaker B:They're putting all their content.
Speaker B:Now, it's probably biased to degree because they're trying to sell you product, but you've got all their reviews and everything living on.
Speaker B:So the sphere is going to be peppered with all kinds of information at the most nanomicro level around product for sure.
Speaker A:But again, like, you're getting anytime you have free, a free newspaper article that you're like, anytime you have free content, it's going to come with some sort of way to pay for that content being produced.
Speaker A:And there's no way to get the compute required for these chatbots like OpenAI to exist.
Speaker A:Like, there's no way to do that without somebody paying for it.
Speaker A:Now, I think that the thing that I actually like about this is that I think that the ads are going to get more personalized and more relevant because of this.
Speaker A:And that's where I think that's the, that's the benefit.
Speaker A:So if I am looking for, if I am asking a question of like, you know, I'm, I'm dealing with this health issue, for example, and then they're starting to serve up things that might be helpful that are relevant to that and that they know can continue to serve me in a way like this is again where if you're giving me information, what am I getting in return for it?
Speaker A:And I think that that's where these start.
Speaker A:These types of tools, whether it's perplexity or OpenAI are really going to start to lever up on a, from like a Google perspective because they are able to give you richer data that is actually helpful to you when you're getting, you know, when you're giving them some information.
Speaker A:So to me I think this is, this is a no brainer.
Speaker A:It makes total sense to me.
Speaker A:I think there's a little bit too much concern right now about unbiased information.
Speaker A:I think people need to dig a little bit deeper on that.
Speaker B:So, so basically Net net, you're saying like Google's already a biased way that we all approach this now and so this is really no different.
Speaker B:Right?
Speaker A:Google, OpenAI.
Speaker A:Claude, like everybody's getting biased information already so it's not going to influence the, I mean if you're not looking at anything you read online with a, with a grain, if you're not taking that with a grain of salt or you're, you're using a discerning eye to decide whether or not that's the source that you're going to use for your information, like.
Speaker A:Right, we all do that.
Speaker A:You should do that with these tools as well.
Speaker B:Right?
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:We go on a tangential diatribe here of all the Black Friday deals you got to buy at every local news source you read on whatever app you read on your phone too.
Speaker B:But we won't and we'll spare our loyal listeners that because that's not interesting.
