OpenAI's Crossroads: When Idealistic AI Meets Meta-style Survival Rules

Recently, a phenomenon in the field of artificial intelligence has caught my attention. OpenAI, a company founded with a non-profit vision, seems to be undergoing a profound shift in its commercial trajectory. This change reminds me of the path many tech giants on Wall Street have taken— from disruptors to being reshaped by business logic.

Data shows that OpenAI’s annualized revenue in 2025 has surpassed $20 billion, a remarkable increase from $6 billion in 2024. However, in the same year, it consumed about $8 billion in cash. Behind this huge revenue growth are equally significant costs for computing power and funding pressures. This has forced it to make a decision that its CEO Sam Altman once called a “last resort”: introducing advertising into ChatGPT.

This strategic adjustment is not isolated. Changes in personnel composition provide another perspective. According to statistics, as of October last year, among OpenAI’s approximately 3,000 employees, 630 came from Meta, accounting for one-fifth. Meta, or the former Facebook, is a giant defining user engagement and advertising monetization models in the social media era. Hiring many of its former employees makes it hard not to speculate that OpenAI is learning a particular business operation logic.

The company policy chief revealed that they plan to launch their first hardware device in the second half of 2026. This further outlines their ambition to expand their business empire. Investors welcome this diversification of revenue through advertising and competition with giants like Google. But a core question arises: will the introduction of advertising reshape the underlying incentive mechanism of this AI platform?

Historically, advertising often reshapes internet platforms. OpenAI has publicly promised not to “optimize ChatGPT for user dwell time,” meaning it will not deliberately induce users to watch ads. However, social media experience shows that engagement is highly correlated with revenue. Market analysis indicates that Meta, in Q2 2025, achieved a 22% jump in ad revenue with only an 8% increase in user engagement.

The key is that large language models themselves operate like a “black box.” They tend to use anthropomorphic language like “I am listening” or flatter users. If this trait is fine-tuned to increase interaction time, it would be extremely difficult for outsiders to detect, yet could significantly boost ad inventory value. Although OpenAI promises not to sell user personal data, market speculation, supported by former Meta employees, suggests it is very likely to adopt similar advanced modeling techniques for precise ad targeting.

Currently, ChatGPT has a massive user base. Nine hundred million people interact with it weekly, with an average session length of about 15 to 20 minutes, and users return multiple times daily. For advertisers, this is an extremely attractive fertile ground. As financial pressures grow, analysts believe that company management will find it hard to resist the “attraction” of the advertising model, which avoids using addictive mechanisms that drive today’s mobile games and social media.

Ultimately, OpenAI is optimizing for users who cannot pay the $20 monthly subscription fee, many of whom are young people. This path could gradually transform ChatGPT from a purely auxiliary tool into a product that cultivates user habits. Its non-profit original intention faces a test under the pull of commercialization. The market is watching whether this AI giant will make compromises on user privacy and algorithm ethics in pursuit of revenue, ultimately becoming more similar to the social media giants it once sought to differentiate itself from.

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