OpenAI executives pitched advertisers on placing their ads in ChatGPT this week at the annual Cannes Lions conference, the world’s largest advertising event. The AI behemoth has 900 million weekly active users and about 20% of ChatGPT queries are directly related to “commercial intent,” OpenAI’s ad chief Dave Dugan said, the Financial Times reported.

The company is already reportedly projecting it’ll reach $100 billion in advertising revenue by 2030. It needs the cash: With mounting costs that far outweigh revenue as it races its rival Anthropic to IPO, OpenAI sees ads as not only a core part of its business model, but also a way to subsidize its free and cheaper products. OpenAI first rolled out ads in ChatGPT in February, initially charging companies based on views per ad. It’s since expanded to cost-per-click ads across different markets like retail, health and travel.

With plans to soon merge ChatGPT and Codex into one app, OpenAI executives also positioned Codex as a way to spin up apps that can create elaborate ad campaigns. While it’s early days for the company’s ads business, it’s crucial that OpenAI woos advertisers with its pitch, especially as it transitions from a place where people look for information to a productivity tool where professionals can get work done.

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Google DeepMind is teaming up with independent movie studio A24 to conduct research and develop AI tools for film production, the........

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