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OpenAI on Monday announced it’s beginning to test ads in the U.S. for users on its Free and Go subscription tiers. The newer Go plan is a low-cost subscription at $8 per month in the U.S. and was introduced globally in mid-January. Subscribers to OpenAI’s paid plans, including its Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise, and Education tiers, will not see ads, the company said. OpenAI sought to address concerns about how ads might affect the user experience, stating in a blog post: “Ads do not influence the answers ChatGPT gives you, and we keep your conversations with ChatGPT private from advertisers. Our…
Bad Bunny DID THAT. Se la rifo! Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl halftime show arrived at a moment when most cultural conversations in the U.S. feel fragmented. Different feeds, different audiences, different realities depending on who you ask. For 13 minutes in the middle of the Big Game, in front of 140 million viewers, that fragmentation paused. Millions of people, across hundreds of languages and thousands of backgrounds, reacted to the same moment at the same time. Have a quick look at X, TikTok, Facebook, your WhatsApp group chat, or even a pit stop at the office watercooler, and you’ll find people…
The most seductive narrative in American work culture right now isn’t that AI will take your job. It’s that AI will save you from it. That’s the version the industry has spent the last three years selling to millions of nervous people who are eager to buy it. Yes, some white-collar jobs will disappear. But for most other roles, the argument goes, AI is a force multiplier. You become a more capable, more indispensable lawyer, consultant, writer, coder, financial analyst — and so on. The tools work for you, you work less hard, everybody wins. But a new study published…
ChatGPT Gets Ads: Omnicom, WPP, and Dentsu Line Up Brands for OpenAI Pilot OpenAI OpenAI officially rolled out ads in ChatGPT on Feb. 9, a watershed moment in its monetization strategy that breaks from its long-standing resistance to in-product advertising.Some U.S. users on ChatGPT’s free tier and its $8-per-month Go subscription plan will start seeing embedded ads, OpenAI said Monday in a blog post. The company previously confirmed to ADWEEK that it wants advertisers to pay at least $200,000 for its early ad test.Despite the high price tag, that test — dubbed OpenAI Ad Pilot Program — has already drawn investment…
India is pushing Aadhaar, the world’s largest digital identity system, deeper into everyday private life through a new app and offline verification support, a move that raises new questions about security, consent, and the broader use of the massive database. Announced in late January by the Indian government-backed Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), the changes introduce a new Aadhaar app alongside an offline verification framework that allows individuals to prove their identity without real-time checks against the central Aadhaar database. The app allows users to share a limited amount of information, such as confirming that they are over a…
OpenAI will not use the name “io” for its forthcoming line of AI hardware devices, according to a Monday court filing.The motion is part of a trademark infringement lawsuit filed last year by audio device startup iyO, which sued OpenAI after it acquired famed Apple designer Jony Ive’s startup io. Peter Welinder, OpenAI’s vice president and general manager, said in the filing that OpenAI had reviewed its product-naming strategy and “decided not to use the name ‘io’ (or ‘IYO,’ or any capitalization of either) in connection with the naming, advertising, marketing, or sale of any artificial intelligence-enabled hardware products.”Welinder also…
Super Bowl 60 brought the biggest tech players—some making their debut, like Anthropic—into the spotlight to pitch AI tools. Yet, not a single major AI company appeared in the top 20 most cited ads across AI chatbots.Analysis from Emberos’ AI Influence Index of ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, and Grok shows that Xfinity, Bud Light, Squarespace, Ramp, Dove, and Volkswagen dominated the responses, revealing an unexpected hierarchy shaped by how each AI system interprets clarity, purpose, and cultural resonance.Emberos“There’s a really healthy mix between CPG, tech, alcohol, and auto brands,” said Justin Inman, founder and CEO of Emberos. “You would think…
As AI data centers drive up electricity prices, London-based startup Tem thinks AI might be able to help solve it, too. Tem has built an energy transaction engine that relies on AI to cut prices relative to other energy traders. The company has signed up more than 2,600 business customers throughout the U.K. on the promise that buying energy from its utility division can save them up to 30% on their energy bills. The startup recently closed an oversubscribed $75 million Series B led by Lightspeed Venture Partners with participation from AlbionVC, Allianz, Atomico, Hitachi Ventures, Revent, Schroders Capital, and…
There’s been this hand-wave, this assumption, this yada yada at the core of our long-term space programs. If we can return astronauts to the moon, we’ll find ice there. And if we find that ice in sufficient quantities, we’ll break it down into hydrogen and oxygen, and yada yada, we’ll use that fuel to fly deeper into the solar system, maybe even to Mars. And if we get to Mars, we’ll find even more ice on the Red Planet. We’ll mine that, combine it with the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, and yada yada, we’ll use that to fly the…
Be it fashion trends or Top 40 hits, America usually takes 20-30 years to rediscover icons of its past and return them to vogue. The 1980s went crazy for the diners and leather jackets of the 1950s. Bellbottom jeans of the ’60s got trendy again in the ’90s. So it was inevitable that the 1990s themselves would come back to us—and they did in a big way in Super Bowl 60’s advertising.Nostalgia wasn’t present solely for its own sake. The adolescents of the ’90s are today’s younger Gen Xers and older millennials, a demographic that’s at—or coming into—its peak spending…
On Monday, Databricks announced it reached a $5.4 billion revenue run rate, growing 65% year-over-year, of which more than $1.4 billion was from its AI products. Co-founder and CEO Ali Ghodsi wanted to share these growth numbers because there’s so much talk about how AI is going to kill the SaaS business, he told TechCrunch. “Everybody’s like, ‘Oh, it’s SaaS. What’s going to happen to all these companies? What’s AI going to do with all these companies?’ For us, it’s just increasing the usage,” he said. To be sure, he also wants to distance Databricks from the SaaS label, given that…
There are 100 firmness levels to choose from with the Balance Pro, and it also features the softest memory foam top layer of all its mattress offerings. I ended up leaning toward firmer levels to offset this softness, landing at 60, while my husband opted for 80. It took about a week to fine-tune our preferences and establish a baseline, as the Bryte app outlined during installation.Another marquee feature of smart mattresses, aside from customizable firmness, is compatibility with adjustable bases. Adjustable bases enable a smart mattress head and foot to move to different positions, whether to help with snoring…
Four months before his Super Bowl halftime show, Bad Bunny playfully challenged viewers to brush up on their Spanish. And after his vibrant homage to Puerto Rico, they did.The artist made history as the first to perform at the Super Bowl halftime show entirely in Spanish, with a joyous spectacle that invited the world to dance to songs including “Tití Me Preguntó.”During and post-show, Duolingo noted a 35% week-on-week increase in Spanish-language learners, after 140 million viewers tuned in to watch Benito perform.“When something captures people’s attention, learning follows,” Duolingo CMO Manu Orssaud told ADWEEK. “The surge in Spanish learning…
Social network Bluesky is finally rolling out one of users’ most-requested features: drafts. Bluesky’s competitors, X and Threads, have long supported the ability to write drafts, which is seen as a baseline feature for services like this. Users can access drafts on Bluesky the same way they do on these other platforms, which is by opening the new post flow and selecting the Drafts button in the top-right corner. The rollout of drafts comes as Bluesky recently teased its roadmap for the year ahead. The company said it plans to focus on improving the app’s algorithmic Discover feed, offering better recommendations…
Today, Meta went to trial in the state of New Mexico for allegedly failing to protect minors from sexual exploitation on its apps, including Facebook and Instagram. The state claims that Meta violated New Mexico’s Unfair Practices Act by implementing design features and algorithms that created dangerous conditions for users. Now, more than two years after the case was filed, opening arguments have begun in Santa Fe.It’s a big week for Meta in court: A landmark social media trial kicks off in California today as well, the nation’s first legal test of social media addiction. That case is part of…
It was a tale of two Sundays.Last week, Bad Bunny stood on stage at the Grammys and said “ICE out” before thanking God for his success. The following Sunday, he headlined the most widely viewed concert in the world at the Super Bowl, an energizing performance that celebrated Puerto Rican culture (and even had a real wedding!) with cameos from Ricky Martin and Lady Gaga.Few artists today spark as much conversation as Bad Bunny. He is polarizing, whether intentionally or not. But the NFL is no stranger to a controversial halftime performer. From Prince’s provocative silhouette to Shakira and J.Lo’s celebration…