Google DeepMind CEO is ‘surprised’ OpenAI is rushing ahead with ads in ChatGPT

Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis said he was “surprised” that OpenAI has already moved to display ads within its AI chatbot. In interview with Axios in DavosThe head of AI was responding to a question about using commercials to fund AI services, saying the idea was something the Google team was considering “very carefully.”

Hassabis also said that his team is under no pressure from the tech giant to make a decision to “take a break” from advertising, no matter how important the ads are to Google’s core business.

The DeepMind co-founder’s comments followed news on Friday that OpenAI it will start product testing as a method of production Additional revenue from AI chatbot’s segment 800 million users every week who do not have a paid subscription.

Even OpenAI might have been forced to consider advertising, given its size construction and the cost of electricityhis idea can change the way users perceive the service.

“I’m a little surprised they’re going to move there,” Hassabis said, referring to OpenAI’s adoption of advertising. “I mean, look, ads, there’s nothing wrong with ads…it makes a lot of money on the internet for consumers. And if it’s done right, it can be useful,” he explained.

“But in the space of assistants, and if you think about a chatbot as an assistant that is supposed to be helpful – and in my opinion, the more advanced, the kind of technology that works for you alone … he asked.

Repetition some early comments from another Davos interview, Hassabis said that Google had “no current plans” for creating ads in an AI chatbot. Instead, the company monitors trends to see how users are responding.

Of course, we’ve already seen consumer pushback to the idea of ​​ads entering human conversations with AI assistants. When OpenAI last month started looking at the interface who gave programs to test In the user chat, for example, people objected, saying that these suggestions look like advertisements. Soon, OpenAI has turned off the program’s logicwhich he said was not an advertisement because it had no “economic value.”

But whether money changed hands or not wasn’t what made users angry. In fact, it’s how the program’s logic undermined the skill of the experience.

This is what concerns Hassabis as well, he said.

He explained that using a chatbot is very different from using Google Search. With Search, Google already understands the user’s intentions, so it can show ads that may be useful. Chatbots, on the other hand, are supposed to be digital assistants who know about you and can help you with many aspects of your life, he said.

“I think this is very different from what people use to search. So I think there, this should be considered very carefully,” he added.

Making Gemini more useful for each user is also important the newly launched was announced today about Google’s AI Mode. Now, users can choose to have Gemini’s AI enter their Gmail and Photos to respond in sync with Search’s AI Mode, similar to how. The Gemini program has just added a Personal Intelligence component which can specify Gmail, Photos, Search, and YouTube profiles.

While personalized ad targeting is an industry that powers the free web, pushing ads to a user while they’re having a conversation with an AI assistant can feel a bit clunky. This is why customers rejected Amazon’s latest efforts insert ads into her Alexa experience – wanted a helper, not an individual consumer buy things to buy.

Hassabis said he is not under any pressure to force advertising into AI, although he acknowledged there may be a way to do it in the future.

“We don’t feel pressured to make knee-jerk decisions like that — I think that’s been the history of what we’ve done at DeepMind — it’s very scientific, rigorous, and thoughtful in every step we take — whether it’s the technology itself or the product,” he said.