OpenAI suspends ad expansion while engineering teams work to settle performance issues.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has told employees to focus on improving ChatGPT’s performance. The company is delaying its advertising plans.
OpenAI hasn’t responded to the memo, but ChatGPT Head Nick Turley marked the chatbot’s third anniversary on Twitter, emphasizing the company’s focus on improving capabilities, expanding global access, and creating a more intuitive, personalized experience.
Back in October, Altman clarified that the company wasn’t planning to introduce ads at that time, though he stopped short of eliminating the possibility altogether.
Altman wants the performance improved before expanding monetization. ChatGPT now has 800 million weekly users, up from 100 million last November. Rolling out ads while the service struggles could negatively affect millions of people.
OpenAI has been testing shopping ads internally, but those ad plans are on hold while engineers fix performance problems.
