Following the Open AI thread yesterday and I spotted something reading Time magazines “puff piece” on Open AI, the new new version. According to PR monthly. That $1BN in ads revenue is a useful lever.
“Early advertising results within ChatGPT have been promising enough that executives are increasing the number of ads, potentially subsidizing free access for the 92% of ChatGPT’s consumer users who, Friar says, do not pay for a subscription. The company is quietly testing sponsored agents—a format in which someone who clicks an ad can enter an AI experience presented by a brand.”
Introducing the Open AI leg-up Ads programme. You pay us and we pay the masses to stay onboard. Meanwhile, we are building sponsored agents. Processing and power capabilities is what Sundar Pichai said would be the only thing to slow this down earlier this year. And this is where the Jack Barker school of box building is coming to the fore. Google are subletting TPUs to other AIs and even funding rent roll (paraphrasing) to allow cash to flow. Apple has also been building Jack’s dream product for almost a decade - the Mac Mini. Unit economics now sitting in their favour with price no longer seemingly a thing. They could charge what they want for them. If the mini were to go bigger than the Airpods as a standalone product, Ternus will be on firm ground - Lake Ontario aside. (seriously, on your first day).
On the outside it seems like there is insatiable demand for compute but not in the way we think. This is the battle for control and distribution power. Go Pro, yes Go Pro have done an AllBirds and just pivoted to becoming a data center producer as part of a merger with Starman Optical. Historically stored video data no doubt a prime asset. But moving into defense is a heck of a side step.
Back to the article and a reminder we are moving into the Physical realm of AI now. How will it affect commerce - some hints at where.
“OpenAI’s road map becomes grander from there. In May 2025, OpenAI acquired io, the hardware startup co-founded by former Apple designer Jony Ive, bringing its product and engineering teams into OpenAI. Ive and his firm, LoveFrom, remain independent but have assumed broad creative responsibilities across the company. Altman says OpenAI is developing a “small handful” of devices, including “something that belongs on a table,” something to be placed in a pocket, and something worn on the body. People familiar with the plans say the first, expected early next year, is a small, pucklike device designed to sense its surroundings and speak with its owner using ChatGPT’s voice mode. “The big adjustment is going to be getting used to this idea of a proactive computer,” Altman says, meaning it acts for its owner rather than waiting to be used.”
All this is to say WOW. Where is anything now.