AI companies contemplate ad tiers

Summary

CNBC's Deirdre Bosa discusses the growing debate over AI companies adopting advertising models, sparked by OpenAI's consideration of ad tiers. She argues that ads could be a sign of OpenAI's consumer scale and a way to cover inference costs while keeping AI free. The segment also examines how rivals like Anthropic and Google may eventually follow, and contrasts enterprise lock-in with consumer AI switching costs.

• OpenAI is considering ad tiers as it operates at consumer internet scale.
• Ads could keep AI free and cover expensive inference costs.
• Anthropic focuses on enterprise contracts, but Claude Code expands its reach.
• Google can fund AI through search ads, though AI cannibalization is a risk.
• Microsoft's ad business via LinkedIn and gaming is high-margin and scalable.
• AI models are commoditizing, which may push more companies toward ads.
• Consumer AI switching costs are low, but memory and personalized ads may create lock-in.