Ads are coming to ChatGPT

Key Takeaway: OpenAI is starting to test labeled banner ads in ChatGPT for some US free users and the new $8/month ChatGPT Go plan to broaden revenue without letting advertisers influence answers.

More Insights:

• Ads will show at the bottom of responses when there’s a “relevant sponsored” product/service, and will be clearly labeled.

• Plus, Pro, Business, and Enterprise subscribers won’t see ads.

• The move signals a shift from Sam Altman’s earlier stance that ads could undermine trust, especially if they affect outputs.

• OpenAI says ads won’t change ChatGPT’s responses, won’t share conversations with advertisers, and will avoid sensitive topics (like mental health and politics) for users it believes are under 18.

• The push is tied to major financial strain: OpenAI expects large losses despite huge usage, with only a small fraction of users paying for subscriptions.

Why it matters: If AI becomes the place people go for “what should I buy / do / believe,” ads can quietly shape reality—even when “separated” from answers—so OpenAI’s test is really a test of whether trust can survive monetization pressure.

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Elon Musk accused of making up math to squeeze $134B from OpenAI, Microsoft

Key Takeaway: Elon Musk is seeking $79B–$134B in damages from OpenAI and Microsoft, but they’re trying to block his expert’s valuation as “made up,” unverifiable, and built on hypothetical deals that never happened.

More Insights:

• Musk’s damages estimate hinges on an expert claiming Musk created 50%–75% of OpenAI’s current nonprofit value.

• OpenAI/Microsoft argue the model relies on an imaginary 2017 scenario where OpenAI accepted Musk’s bid for control—something they say never occurred.

• The expert allegedly used unusual, non-standard methods, admitted it’s not “textbook,” and applied calculations he hadn’t used before.

• OpenAI says the analysis ignored everyone else’s contributions, effectively treating founders, engineers, and ChatGPT’s inventors as contributing “zero.”

• They also argue the expert double-counted value and used xAI-related assumptions to inflate damages, despite lacking access to xAI’s internal numbers.

Why it matters: If courts entertain giant “counterfactual” valuations in nonprofit disputes, it could turn philanthropy and early-stage tech support into retroactive leverage—where influence and reputation get priced like equity, and mission-driven organizations become vulnerable to jackpot litigation.

Ring founder details the camera company’s ‘intelligent assistant’ era

Key Takeaway: Jamie Siminoff returned to Ring (now Amazon-owned) to push it beyond video doorbells into an AI-driven “intelligent assistant” for homes and public spaces, even as privacy and policing concerns intensify.

More Insights:

• Siminoff came back after burnout, motivated by AI’s leap forward and the Palisades fires that destroyed Ring’s original garage.

• Ring is shipping new AI features: fire alerts, “unusual events” detection, conversational AI, and facial recognition (“Familiar Faces”).

• “Fire Watch,” built with Watch Duty, lets opt-in customers share footage during major fires so AI can spot smoke/embers and improve firefighting maps.

• “Search Party” uses AI to match lost-pet photos to Ring footage, reportedly reuniting about one family per day with their dog.

• Ring’s renewed integrations with law enforcement partners (like Flock Safety and Axon) revive debates over surveillance, consent, and potential misuse.

Why it matters: Ring’s pivot shows where consumer tech is headed: always-on cameras evolving from passive recording devices into proactive decision-makers — and the real question isn’t whether the assistant gets smarter, but whether society builds safeguards fast enough to keep “helpful” from becoming “inescapable.”

Other stuff

• Ben Affleck & Matt Damon on The Limits of AI in Movie Making

• In the past year, drone warfare in Ukraine has undergone a chilling transformation.

• Trump wants tech companies to foot the bill for new power plants because of AI

• Signal creator Moxie Marlinspike wants to do for AI what he did for messaging

• Wikipedia may be the largest compendium of human knowledge ever created, but can it survive?

• Inside OpenAI’s Raid on Thinking Machines Lab

• OpenAI invests in Sam Altman’s brain computer interface startup Merge Labs

• Google’s Trends Explore page gets new Gemini capabilities

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