OpenAI to develop in-house advertising platform for ChatGPT

OpenAI is reportedly building its own marketing and advertising infrastructure for ChatGPT, according to a recent job posting and industry reports. The company is hiring a Growth Paid Marketing Platform Engineer to develop internal tools for ad platform integration, campaign management, and real-time attribution as part of a newly formed ‘ChatGPT Growth team.’ 

The role involves ‘building the technical infrastructure behind OpenAI’s paid marketing platform’ and developing systems for campaign management, integrating with major ad platforms, real-time attribution, and experimentation frameworks to optimise marketing objectives, the posting states. It adds that the engineer will help design foundational MarTech infrastructure that will make its marketing investments more effective, measurable, and automated.’

The company has not previously offered on-platform advertising, making the listing a rare signal of plans for in-house capabilities. Media reports also note that Fidji Simo, OpenAI’s CEO of Applications, is meeting candidates to lead a team tasked with bringing ads to ChatGPT. Simo previously led Instacart’s advertising product.

The development follows the company appointing Omnicom Media Group’s PHD as its global media agency of record and onboarding executives with advertising experience. OpenAI’s chatbot usage has grown to 700 million weekly active users as of August, up fourfold from a year earlier, and is now available on Apple devices.

The moves coincide with the company’s shift toward a public benefit corporation, giving the controlling nonprofit an equity stake valued at $100 billion, and a tentative resolution with Microsoft on financial matters, signaling a broader focus on revenue generation alongside AI development