Daily AI Newsletter: Ads are coming to ChatGPT

In today’s email:

☠️ In the past year, drone warfare in Ukraine has undergone a chilling transformation.
💰 OpenAI invests in Sam Altman’s brain computer interface startup Merge Labs
📈 Google’s Trends Explore page gets new Gemini capabilities
🧰 11 new AI-powered tools and resources. Make sure to check the online version for the full list of tools.

Ads are coming to ChatGPT

Key Takeaway: OpenAI is starting to test labeled banner ads in ChatGPT for some US free users and the new $8/month ChatGPT Go plan to broaden revenue without letting advertisers influence answers.

More Insights:

Ads will show at the bottom of responses when there’s a “relevant sponsored” product/service, and will be clearly labeled.
Plus, Pro, Business, and Enterprise subscribers won’t see ads.
The move signals a shift from Sam Altman’s earlier stance that ads could undermine trust, especially if they affect outputs.
OpenAI says ads won’t change ChatGPT’s responses, won’t share conversations with advertisers, and will avoid sensitive topics (like mental health and politics) for users it believes are under 18.
The push is tied to major financial strain: OpenAI expects large losses despite huge usage, with only a small fraction of users paying for subscriptions.

Why it matters: If AI becomes the place people go for “what should I buy / do / believe,” ads can quietly shape reality—even when “separated” from answers—so OpenAI’s test is really a test of whether trust can survive monetization pressure.

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Elon Musk accused of making up math to squeeze $134B from OpenAI, Microsoft

Key Takeaway: Elon Musk is seeking $79B–$134B in damages from OpenAI and Microsoft, but they’re trying to block his expert’s valuation as “made up,” unverifiable, and built on hypothetical deals that never happened.

More Insights:

Musk’s damages estimate hinges on an expert claiming Musk created 50%–75% of OpenAI’s current nonprofit value.
OpenAI/Microsoft argue the model relies on an imaginary 2017 scenario where OpenAI accepted Musk’s bid for control—something they say never occurred.
The expert allegedly used unusual, non-standard methods, admitted it’s not “textbook,” and applied calculations he hadn’t used before.
OpenAI says the analysis ignored everyone else’s contributions, effectively treating founders, engineers, and ChatGPT’s inventors as contributing “zero.”
They also argue the expert double-counted value and used xAI-related assumptions to inflate damages, despite lacking access to xAI’s internal numbers.

Why it matters: If courts entertain giant “counterfactual” valuations in nonprofit disputes, it could turn philanthropy and early-stage tech support into retroactive leverage—where influence and reputation get priced like equity, and mission-driven organizations become vulnerable to jackpot litigation.

Ring founder details the camera company’s ‘intelligent assistant’ era

Key Takeaway: Jamie Siminoff returned to Ring (now Amazon-owned) to push it beyond video doorbells into an AI-driven “intelligent assistant” for homes and public spaces, even as privacy and policing concerns intensify.

More Insights:

Siminoff came back after burnout, motivated by AI’s leap forward and the Palisades fires that destroyed Ring’s original garage.
Ring is shipping new AI features: fire alerts, “unusual events” detection, conversational AI, and facial recognition (“Familiar Faces”).
“Fire Watch,” built with Watch Duty, lets opt-in customers share footage during major fires so AI can spot smoke/embers and improve firefighting maps.
“Search Party” uses AI to match lost-pet photos to Ring footage, reportedly reuniting about one family per day with their dog.
Ring’s renewed integrations with law enforcement partners (like Flock Safety and Axon) revive debates over surveillance, consent, and potential misuse.

Why it matters: Ring’s pivot shows where consumer tech is headed: always-on cameras evolving from passive recording devices into proactive decision-makers — and the real question isn’t whether the assistant gets smarter, but whether society builds safeguards fast enough to keep “helpful” from becoming “inescapable.”

Other stuff

Ben Affleck & Matt Damon on The Limits of AI in Movie Making
In the past year, drone warfare in Ukraine has undergone a chilling transformation.
Trump wants tech companies to foot the bill for new power plants because of AI
Signal creator Moxie Marlinspike wants to do for AI what he did for messaging
Wikipedia may be the largest compendium of human knowledge ever created, but can it survive?
Inside OpenAI’s Raid on Thinking Machines Lab
OpenAI invests in Sam Altman’s brain computer interface startup Merge Labs
Google’s Trends Explore page gets new Gemini capabilities

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