There’s a certain — very passionate — group of people on the internet who believe AI chatbots should make their money from advertising. I know this because I heard from them this week after I suggested chat would need a different business model. For five days running, my slander of advertising (which I generally like and run in this newsletter) has led to a flood of comments questioning my aptitude and sanity. One person showed me ChatGPT could suggest Taco Bell Crunchwraps as you searched for information on Turkmenistan. Thanks?
For any new technology, it’s always difficult to transpose old business models directly onto the new experience, and AI chat is no different.