OpenAI is touting the speedy growth of its ad business as it prepares for an initial public offering.
On Monday, OpenAI said that ad sales on ChatGPT have reached $1 billion in annualized revenue run rate in less than 200 days. “Advertising is one pillar of OpenAI’s diversified business model, alongside consumer subscriptions, enterprise offerings, and usage-based APIs,” the company said in a statement.
The milestone for OpenAI’s fledgling ads business comes as the AI company looks to drum up investor interest ahead of its much-anticipated IPO.
OpenAI said ad revenue now makes up a “material share of the business.” OpenAI’s decision to introduce ads in its popular chatbot proved controversial, with rival Anthropic mocking the development in a Super Bowl ad.
CEO Sam Altman previously voiced discomfort at the idea of AI advertising. “Ads plus AI is sort of uniquely unsettling to me,” Altman said during an event at Harvard University in May 2024. “I kind of think of ads as a last resort for us for a business model.” Anthropic’s Super Bowl ad poked fun at OpenAI’s decision by portraying a chatbot that would seize on user queries to deliver emotionally charged ads.
In response, Altman called Anthropic’s trolling “funny” but “clearly dishonest.” In the end, OpenAI may have found another crucial revenue stream as it marches toward an IPO that could happen as soon as this year.
The expectation is that Anthropic will make its public listing debut first, with OpenAI saying in June that it “may be a while.” As of August, OpenAI said that ChatGPT ads are available in over 40 countries.
On Monday, the AI company is launching a self-service ad tool in India, Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa.
In recent months, OpenAI has shuttered previous ventures like Sora, its short-lived TikTok-esque AI generation app, to focus on its core business.
At the same time, the company has seen a string of departures of top-level officials, including COO Brad Lightcap.
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