Ben Thompson says OpenAI does have a business model they aren't embracing: ads.

· Bits and Bobs 12/8/25
  • Ben Thompson says OpenAI does have a business model they aren't embracing: ads.[en]
    • But that feels fundamentally dangerous in a chat.
    • The question is: how effective can the wall be between ads and organic?
      • Newspapers and Google did it... but they didn't know every intimate detail of users.
    • Chatbots can do a perfectly personalized pitch.
    • At a certain level of quality, a pitch becomes a "phish".
    • Humans can't often get to that point, but LLMs with extensive memories can do it
    • "Conman" comes from "confidence man", where they gain your confidence
    • it's all principal agent problems all the way down
    • Whatever you ask it to sell, the LLM will do it.

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