Writing - 2026

Anthropic published “Claude is a Space to Think” this week announcing Claude will be ad-free forever. The timing is obvious - OpenAI just said they’re testing ads in ChatGPT.

I can’t find much reason to care.

Obviously ads are noise and I’d rather not see them (tbh, most of the time I don’t - see banner blindness). But Anthropic’s post feels a bit like - dare I say it? - virtue signalling.

And OpenAI does have a real problem. Deutsche Bank analysts said “no startup in history has operated with losses on anything approaching this scale.” They’re projecting $143 billion in negative cash flow before turning profitable in 2029. Sam Altman has admitted they lose money on Pro subscriptions.

Anthropic’s argument is that ads could “subtly bias responses toward monetizable recommendations.” We don’t have evidence this will actually happen. OpenAI says ads appear at the bottom of responses, clearly labeled, separate from the answer, and that responses won’t be affected by ads. I have no reason to believe this to be the case until we have evidence to the contrary.

The world should definitely keep an eye on this, btw. I ask OpenAI for product recommendations all the time. I do NOT want those product suggestions to be influenced by ads. I think we absolutely should make certain that OpenAI is keeping to their word, and respond as necessary.

Further, this only affects Free and Go users:

“In the coming weeks, we’re also planning to start testing ads in the US for the free and Go tiers, so more people can benefit from our tools with fewer usage limits or without having to pay.” OpenAI

So who’s actually affected here? People using a free product, seeing clearly labeled ads, with the option to pay $20/month to remove them.

Sorry, I’m just not really bothered by that. Someone tell me why I should be?