OpenAI is no longer accepting advertising for products that compete with its own image and audio generation features, according to a notice sent to advertising partners including Adobe, which was part of ChatGPT’s ads pilot earlier this year. Adobe ran ads for Acrobat Studio, a bundled subscription that combines several of its AI products, and Firefly, its AI-image generator, and then continued to run ads for both products after the pilot.
ChatGPT also stopped showing outbound links and citations when users search for photo editors or image generators, meaning Adobe lost both paid and organic visibility after the change.
The Information notes that there is industry precedent for the decision, such as media companies, news organizations, and streaming services refusing to accept ads for direct competitors. It makes me think — imagine where TikTok would be today if it hadn’t been able to run all those ads on YouTube and Instagram. One could argue that TikTok bought its market share off the backs of its biggest competitors, who were glad to take its ad dollars back in the day, but may be regretting the choice now.
While OpenAI’s decision is understandable from a competitive standpoint, it’s kind of a bitch move to cut off one of your early ad pilot partners in the process. Especially Adobe, which opens its door to OpenAI as one of the available models to work with through Firefly, and which launched apps for Photoshop, Adobe Express, and Acrobat inside ChatGPT, also as an early partner.
OpenAI’s response to Adobe’s continued partnership? “Fuck you, we’ve got metrics to hit and investors to please.”
