OpenAI Insists Target Links in ChatGPT Responses Weren't Ads But 'Suggestions' - But Turns Them Off (engadget.com) 28
A hardware security response from ChatGPT ended with "Shop for home and groceries. Connect Target."
But "There are no live tests for ads" on ChatGPT, insists Nick Turley, OpenAI's head of ChatGPT. Posting on X.com, he said "any screenshots you've seen are either not real or not ads." Engadget reports The OpenAI exec's explanation comes after another post from former xAI employee Benjamin De Kraker on X that has gained traction, which featured a screenshot showing an option to shop at Target within a ChatGPT conversation. OpenAI's Daniel McAuley responded to the post, arguing that it's not an ad but rather an example of app integration that the company announced in October. [To which De Kraker responded "when brands inject themselves into an unrelated chat and encourage the user to go shopping at their store, that's an ad. The more you pretend this isn't an ad because you guys gave it a different name, the less users like or trust you."]
However, the company's chief research officer, Mark Chen, also replied on X that they "fell short" in this case, adding that "anything that feels like an ad needs to be handled with care."
"We've turned off this kind of suggestion while we improve the model's precision," Chen wrote on X. "We're also looking at better controls so you can dial this down or off if you don't find it helpful."
But "There are no live tests for ads" on ChatGPT, insists Nick Turley, OpenAI's head of ChatGPT. Posting on X.com, he said "any screenshots you've seen are either not real or not ads." Engadget reports The OpenAI exec's explanation comes after another post from former xAI employee Benjamin De Kraker on X that has gained traction, which featured a screenshot showing an option to shop at Target within a ChatGPT conversation. OpenAI's Daniel McAuley responded to the post, arguing that it's not an ad but rather an example of app integration that the company announced in October. [To which De Kraker responded "when brands inject themselves into an unrelated chat and encourage the user to go shopping at their store, that's an ad. The more you pretend this isn't an ad because you guys gave it a different name, the less users like or trust you."]
However, the company's chief research officer, Mark Chen, also replied on X that they "fell short" in this case, adding that "anything that feels like an ad needs to be handled with care."
"We've turned off this kind of suggestion while we improve the model's precision," Chen wrote on X. "We're also looking at better controls so you can dial this down or off if you don't find it helpful."
Here's a suggestion for you (Score:4, Informative)
F... off, ChatGPT.
Re: (Score:2)
Don't worry they are screwed (Score:2)
Using Chat GPT to encroach on the lucrative search/advert market would have been fine if Google hadn't been able to catch up. But they have. So why would everyone keyed into the Google eco-system bother switching over to Open AI adverts/search now?
It's surprising Altman didn't push for this while he was ahead - that would have been a decent strategy. But instead he went on this crazy train about how they would have the super-intelligence blah blah blah.
The big problem he has now is that if open Ai employees
Re: Don't worry they are screwed (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
>Then came cable TV where you could pay and watch ad-free
Early cable-TV (CATV, Community Access Television) was just re-transmission of distant stations usually over coaxial cable, ads and all.
I think you are referring to pay-TV, which was (and may still be) available over-the-air as well as by satellite, cable, or these days, streaming.
>The quest for every-increasing profits will have the same end result for paid search, eventually.
Yeah, there's a word for that, it starts with ens and ends with hitti
Not helpful (Score:3)
"We're also looking at better controls so you can dial this down or off if you don't find it helpful."
Helpful? Since when is an ad encouraging me to shop at Target helpful? This lame attempt at corporate spin just digs the hole deeper.
Re: (Score:2)
This is the sound of the other shoe dropping.
Re: Not helpful (Score:4, Funny)
ClipGPT: "It looks like you're trying to manage public relations in connection with an advertising campaign. Sterling Cooper & Partners is an internationally recognized agency with a long track record of successful campaigns in this area. Can I help you navigate to Link Target?"
In other words (Score:2)
Who you gonna believe, me or your lying eyes?
Re: (Score:2)
Who you gonna believe, me or your lying eyes?
Surprising how often the former seems to work these days.
Raises hand (Score:4, Insightful)
Weren't Ads But 'Suggestions'
Um... aren't all ads suggestions?
Re: (Score:1, Informative)
Weren't Ads But 'Suggestions'
Um... aren't all ads suggestions?
"It depends on what the meaning of the word 'is' is." - William Jefferson Clinton
Re: (Score:2)
TBH (Score:2)
To be honest, I'm kind of surprised this bullshit doesn't happen organically.
Presumably ChatGPT reads plenty of advertising copy as it trawls the Internet trying to read everything it can. Why doesn't it just repeat, albeit garbled, advertising slogans regularly?
Re: (Score:2)
It doesn't happen YET.
Of course they filter their dataset for pure spam and as best as they can for ads. Training itself also leads away from fitting to certain ads organically (if you want so the model learns what's relevant and whats noise). But wait for spammers starting to optimize to get into training. It's probably not simple, but there is a lot of money in ads and spam, so people will start doing it. You can already pay people to optimize your website for AI bots (with hard to verify results), optimi
That's Ridiculous (Score:2)
That's totally ridiculous! -- brought to you by Carl's Jr.
Reminds me of something (Score:2)
Gimme a second. I'm trying to think. Oh right, alternative facts.
AdGPT (Score:2)
It anyone stupid enough to think that subscriptions are going to make them over $1.5 trillion in profit???
Re: (Score:2)
Streaming services go full spit take (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
OR
The just gave up and went and did something else without all the BS invading their lives.
I have taken up machining , going to make some model steam engine for the grandkids, out of actual metal, not chinesium nor plastic.
So just like "Sponsored" (Score:2)
Did AI think of this all on its own, or some marketing wanker trying to justify their salary ?
Just a suggestion (Score:2)
It's not an ad, it's a "suggestion" (Score:2)
Promise! We would never do something like that. It's all just testing the waters for suggestions, that's all.
There will be no more ads, just helpful suggestions.
Is anyone surprised? (Score:2)
Come on, they aren't getting vaguely enough paid subscribers, and this is the other way to monetise the Artificial Idiot that they're miles/kilometers deep in debt for.