Instagram ad for shopping on ChatGPT (Rani Molla/Sherwood News)

We’re Open!

OpenAI says reports of ChatGPT ads are wrong as Google brings ads to AI products

There are billion$ of reasons why OpenAI would turn to ads.

12/8/25 8:54AM

A number of ChatGPT users have recently reported seeing what appear to be ads within OpenAI’s flagship product, noting a prompt reading, “Shop for home and groceries. Connect Target.” Separately, BleepingComputer reported on a leak late last month that showed the company was internally testing ads on ChatGPT.

But the company has pushed back and said that’s not the case. “There are no live tests for ads — any screenshots you’ve seen are either not real or not ads,” Head of ChatGPT Nick Turley wrote on X Friday. Meanwhile, Chief Researcher Officer Mark Chen said the company has turned off a feature that could feel like an ad.

Of course, as a business in dire need of additional revenue sources to finance its exorbitant costs — and as one that’s already staffed up an internal ad business — it makes complete sense that OpenAI would expand to ads. Its biggest competitor, Google, has already been opening up the search giant’s massive advertising spigot to its AI products.

But perhaps it also makes sense why the company is being cagey about getting into ads. A year ago, CEO Sam Altman called ads within an AI product “uniquely unsetting” and said they would be a “last resort” for OpenAI. Additionally, one could argue the saturation of ads on Google hurt the user experience and made room for competitors like OpenAI in the first place.

Keep in mind that throughout the history of business, whether we like it or not, products that initially shunned ads — from cable TV to streaming services to your refrigerator or your car — will eventually adopt them when companies figure out users are hooked enough on the product that they’ll tolerate the pain.

Jon Keegan3/6/26

OpenAI reportedly delaying erotica feature to focus on “gains in intelligence”

OpenAI is delaying its planned “adult mode,” as it seeks to shore up ChatGPT’s core capabilities before the chatbot can generate erotic content.

A source within OpenAI told tech news site Sources that the company will miss its Q1 target for launching the feature:

“We’re pushing out the launch of adult mode so we can focus on work that is a higher priority for more users right now, including gains in intelligence, personality improvements, personalization, and making the experience more proactive.”

The company said it still believes in “treating adults like adults,” but said it wants to get the experience right. OpenAI has been testing user age estimation technology ahead of the planned release.

Liz Reid on where Google Search ends and Gemini begins

“We’re pushing out the launch of adult mode so we can focus on work that is a higher priority for more users right now, including gains in intelligence, personality improvements, personalization, and making the experience more proactive.”

Rani Molla

3/6/26

Why Apple is moving into the lower-cost smartphone and laptop markets

The luxury tech maker is heading down-market.

Man taking picture of Times Square using smart phone, personal perspective view

Ads have entered the chat

Advertisers are crowding into the next digital frontier.

Rani Molla3/6/26

Jon Keegan3/6/26

Anthropic will sue the Pentagon over supply chain risk designation, Amodei says

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei said in a public post that the company will sue the Pentagon after receiving a letter from the Department of Defense officially designating Anthropic as “a supply chain risk to America’s national security.”

Amodei says that the effect of the unprecedented designation for an American company is more narrow than originally described, and that most of its customers would not be affected.

“With respect to our customers, it plainly applies only to the use of Claude by customers as a direct part of contracts with the Department of War, not all use of Claude by customers who have such contracts.”

Amodei says the company does not “believe this action is legally sound, and we see no choice but to challenge it in court.”

The CEO also apologized for statements he made in a leaked internal memo in which he claimed that the company was targeted because it didn’t show “dictator-style praise” for President Trump.

Where things stand with the Department of War

“With respect to our customers, it plainly applies only to the use of Claude by customers as a direct part of contracts with the Department of War, not all use of Claude by customers who have such contracts.”

Amodei says the company does not “believe this action is legally sound, and we see no choice but to challenge it in court.”

The CEO also apologized for statements he made in a leaked internal memo in which he claimed that the company was targeted because it didn’t show “dictator-style praise” for President Trump.

$40B💰

Rani Molla3/6/26

SoftBank is going to great lengths to double down on OpenAI — including taking on significant debt. After completing a $40 billion investment to become one of the ChatGPT maker’s largest backers, the Japanese conglomerate is now seeking a roughly $40 billion loan with a 12-month term, Bloomberg reports.

The financing would be SoftBank’s largest-ever dollar-denominated deal. The AI investment has helped lift profits, but it is also pressuring SoftBank’s credit profile.