OpenAI, which spends far extra money than it takes in, is attempting one thing new to stanch the bleeding. The corporate simply introduced that every one customers, together with on the free tier, can store from ChatGPT Search. “Now you can seek for a product, evaluate choices and purchase merchandise in ChatGPT,” OpenAI mentioned in a press launch. Classes presently out there embrace style, magnificence, residence items and electronics, with growth to extra classes set to return later.
The search outcomes you will receive are “chosen independently and should not adverts,” the corporate guarantees. The updates can be found in 4o and are rolling out to ChatGPT Plus, Professional, Free and even logged-out customers. Together with the procuring, OpenAI launched search in WhatsApp, enabling customers to ship a WhatsApp message to ChatGPT to get up-to-date solutions. Additionally new are improved citations, trending search and upcoming reminiscence integration.
Trusting ChatGPT for correct procuring advise could also be a threat, because the app tends to (nonetheless) make stuff up when it would not know a solution. Evidently OpenAI is accessing opinions from Wired and different websites to get info on merchandise, presumably by way of license agreements. It is not clear how OpenAI is earning profits on procuring because it’s surfacing natural outcomes and never paid placements, but it surely could possibly be by way of affiliate income.
The corporate definitely wants the money. OpenAI solely made $4 billion final yr, reportedly after spending $9 billion. The corporate expects to spice up that income by an element of 30 to $125 billion by 2029, although it did not give any specifics on the way it plans to take action. Because it stands now, OpenAI makes the majority of its cash from paid subscriptions and the remaining by way of licensing its API.