OpenAI is making its debut at the Cannes Lions advertising festival, signaling a significant push into the advertising business to diversify revenue ahead of a potential IPO. The company's advertising chief, David Dugan, outlined an ambitious goal of reaching $100 billion in ad revenue by the end of the decade, a figure that would be roughly half of Meta's current advertising income.
This move places OpenAI in direct competition with established internet advertising giants like Google and Meta. The company began testing ads within ChatGPT conversations for free and lower-tier users in February and already has thousands of advertisers across seven test markets. The revenue generated from this new venture is intended to fund broader access to OpenAI's costly AI tools and accelerate its path to profitability.