ChatGPT ads have officially landed — OpenAI's biggest advertising rollout yet is now live across 31 European markets, targeting Free and Go-tier users. Hosts Ashley Coffey and Daniel Hill break down why OpenAI is leaning on explicit user consent (not "legitimate interest") to stay GDPR-compliant, and why this move is really about revenue ahead of a possible IPO. Then: why doesn't anyone trust AI yet? A new TechCrunch report — backed by comments from Anthropic's CEO, a CNBC trust poll of 18–34 year olds, and a Wall Street Journal piece on AI data center backlash — shows the AI industry has a real trust problem, not just a PR problem. Ashley and Daniel dig into the rise of "dumb tech" and slow-tech trends among younger generations, Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky's comments on the AI backlash, and where AI actually earns its keep (hint: not everywhere).
ChatGPT ads have officially landed! OpenAI's biggest advertising rollout yet is now live across 31 European markets, targeting Free and Go-tier users. Hosts Ashley Coffey and Daniel Hill break down why OpenAI is leaning on explicit user consent (not "legitimate interest") to stay GDPR-compliant, and why this move is really about revenue ahead of a possible IPO.
Then: why doesn't anyone trust AI yet? A new TechCrunch report, backed by comments from Anthropic's CEO, a CNBC trust poll of 18–34 year olds, and a Wall Street Journal piece on AI data center backlash — shows the AI industry has a real trust problem, not just a PR problem. Ashley and Daniel dig into the rise of "dumb tech" and slow-tech trends among younger generations, Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky's comments on the AI backlash, and where AI actually earns its keep (hint: not everywhere).
Source: Digiday (link in original article)
Source: TechCrunch (link in original article)
Ashley Coffey (00:06)
Hi and welcome back to AI News that you should know about for August 21st. I'm your host, Ashley Coffey
Daniel Hill (00:11)
And I'm Daniel Hill. There's a lot of AI news out there. We give you the weekly highlights in just a few minutes. This week on the show, we'll be talking about Chat GPT ads being in 31 more European markets today. And AI was supposed to win people over by now, but it's clear that it hasn't. We'll be covering all of that on our show today, plus more. But first, here's a quick word from our sponsors.
Ashley Coffey (00:35)
Welcome back.
Ashley Coffey (00:36)
Let's dive in. All right, ChatGPT ads land in 31 European markets today. This is coming from Digiday. We'll link the article in the show notes. That way you can read it if you want to. But ads are coming to an AI tool near you. Don't forget, companies like OpenAI and Anthropic are also trying to bolster themselves in advance of their upcoming planned IPO. Ads are a huge revenue generator, and investors like the sound of more money. Here's the news: ChatGPT ads land in 31
Ashley Coffey (01:05)
European markets today. It's OpenAI's biggest rollout yet, shown only to free and go users.
Ashley Coffey (01:11)
OpenAI is bringing ads to ChatGPT in Europe and is starting where Meta ended up. It's building its European ad business on consent from the start. And OpenAI's hand is mostly forced. Under the GDPR, which is the General Data Protections Regulation personalized ads count as processing personal data, and OpenAI needs a legal basis to run them. Some ad platforms rely on legitimate interests to justify targeting without asking permission first.
Ashley Coffey (01:37)
OpenAI is being more explicit and will ask users for consent, which could theoretically enable open AI to serve more targeted ads. What are your thoughts, Daniel?
Daniel Hill (01:47)
This is really one that I keep going back to. Will the ads be enough revenue for open AI, Anthropic, other companies to show their value? Will they make enough money from ads long term to prove profitable? And I don't think that it will work out that way. Obviously, it's worked out that way for social media companies who are doing just fine. But as a long-term strategy for AI companies, I'm not sure that this is the move. What are your thoughts on that?
Ashley Coffey (02:14)
I agree.
Ashley Coffey (02:14)
With you here. I think they're following a traditional Silicon Valley playbook of let's insert ads wherever we can. And things are changing. And if everyone's relationship with AI is very different and it's also built on trust. So once you start introducing ads, I think it's a very slippery slope because then it comes into the question of is this ad being served to me because it's the best possible option? Or is this ad being served to me because this company had more ad revenue than this company? Does that give me an equitable? I mean, that's just advertising for you, but
Ashley Coffey (02:43)
I don't think it's a good idea. I think they're just doing it to appease investors in advance of their potential IPO.
Daniel Hill (02:48)
I
Daniel Hill (02:48)
agree. And I think it's also going to be a situation where if it's not profitable, they're just gonna keep adding more and more advertisements until it's an overwhelming amount of ads. That's my thought on how this sh shakes out in the end.
Ashley Coffey (03:01)
I agree. Alright, we're gonna take a quick break, but when we come back, we'll be talking about AI was supposed to win people over by now. It hasn't.
Daniel Hill (03:11)
Welcome back. Continuing with our stories, AI was supposed to win people over by now, but it hasn't. This is coming from TechCrunch. By way of background, tech CEOs and really a lot of people in tech have given the impression that AI and LLMs will solve many of mankind's problems. The anthropic CEO admitted in a post on X this week that negative public perception of AI is a big problem that's really about a crisis of trust. He said people don't trust companies, governments, or the tech industry as
Daniel Hill (03:39)
They quote, suspect that we are all cooking up some new way to screw them over, end quote. And the solution, he said, was to deliver on AI's promises, like curing cancer. He said, quote, I think by far the most accurate criticism of AI companies, including Anthropic, is that we haven't yet delivered on our big promises to benefit the world. And that is totally on us. End quote. So here's the news. A recent CNBC poll of 18 to 34 year olds found that.
Daniel Hill (04:04)
A majority of the respondents said they don't trust the top leaders in the AI industry to act responsibly when it comes to AI. The Wall Street Journal reported this week that tech companies are facing a PR crisis over their plans to build AI data centers across the US. And so to sweeten the deal, these companies are offering job guarantees, clean water investments, and other perks. Really, the underlying sentiment here across the board is that consumers don't see how AI is making their lives better.
Daniel Hill (04:32)
But we're all being asked to absorb the costs. For an industry that's raised hundreds of billions of dollars on the promise of AI's inevitability, this public sentiment being so bad is a business problem. It's not just a PR problem. And the industry's own leaders are starting to notice. In this article, they make two points that I really like. First, consumer trends are pointing in the opposite direction. And they give the example of young people showing interest in retro technology like dumb phones, point and shoe cameras.
Daniel Hill (04:59)
Tape decks, CD players, iPods, and grandma hobbies, things like knitting, quilting, jigsaw puzzles, cards, and mahjong, which I can't even believe I would say that that is an activity that people would engage in who are under the age of 80. And they also highlight in person meetups and activities like run clubs are being more popular these days than online dating. The second thing I like about this article is the Airbnb CEO said in a recent
Daniel Hill (05:23)
Podcast that the AI backlash is real. And it's because the industry isn't shipping products that regular people like. And he said, quote, I think it's a narrative issue that we're not talking about AI correctly. But part of it is we need to be developing more products that regular people can use and say, I love AI because AI allows me to have a doctor on demand and I can't have that. I can't afford that. And so I think we need more regular things. End quote. Ashley, what are your thoughts on this?
Ashley Coffey (05:49)
I'm glad you picked this one because I have three things that I want to highlight here. First off, is
Ashley Coffey (05:54)
This is human nature to fear and not trust things that are new, right? Same thing happened when the Model T replaced the horses. I actually heard this morning on NPR, President Trump was literally saying on camera, there's a PR problem with data centers, and the companies need to figure that out. So it's not necessarily a PR problem, it's a leadership problem, and it's coming down from the top. second on this is data centers. we
Ashley Coffey (06:19)
Have to have a conversation about the ability for the community to engage in these decisions. Right now, a lot of these decisions are being made without the community in mind, and the community is the one that's being impacted at the end of the day. Lots of lobbyists are being hired, there's a lot of stuff behind the scenes. also, second here is who is Brian Chesky's PR person? ever since the past year, his PR has like gone up and he's quoted and stuff.
Ashley Coffey (06:43)
like this he's being seen and I'm like where is this person?
Daniel Hill (06:47)
One sec, I don't
Daniel Hill (06:47)
think I said it, but Brian Chesky is the CEO of Airbnb. I don't think I actually said his name.
Ashley Coffey (06:52)
Yes, Brian Chesky is the CEO of Air of Airbnb. So interesting thing here that you you brought up and I'm glad that this is a discussion we're having.
Daniel Hill (07:00)
I actually really wanted to get into those two points because first, I think in-person meetups and activities are crucial to who we are
Ashley Coffey (07:07)
Yes.
Daniel Hill (07:07)
as a society. As much as people love online events, and I'm happy for you, I recently planned an in-person event that everyone had to leave their phone at home. And it led to more in-person interactions than I've ever seen because no one could stare at their phones. And second, I think that this example that the Airbnb CEO cited.
Daniel Hill (07:26)
If you don't have insurance, you can't make it to the doctor, and your only choice is an AI. I think an AI can be helpful. We've talked in the past on this show about people who can't afford mental health coverage or can't make it to a mental health provider for scheduling reasons or whatever. In that case, AI might be a good fit. So I think there are really good use cases sometimes, but not always. And I think it's figuring out when is AI helpful, when is it
Daniel Hill (07:50)
when are you leveraging the advantages of it as opposed to real world alternatives of trained humans? So I I do kind of like those examples that he picked and I do think those are good use cases for people who might not be able to have other options available to them.
Ashley Coffey (08:04)
Yes, and Gen Alpha is the generation that I've seen most often resorting to OG Tech, the low G, Lo-Fi, Slow Tech, which is really nice to see that they understand the intentionality of just how much of an impact social media has had on the social network of society. So maybe this will be the generation to invent something new. We shall see.
Daniel Hill (08:28)
I look forward to that and if it's an offline equivalent, I'm very interested.
Ashley Coffey (08:31)
Absolutely.
Daniel Hill (08:31)
All right, that is it for our AI news that you should know about this week. The show notes have links to everything we've discussed. And if you want more kind of this content, that's what you can find us on social media for. I'm on Instagram, Threads, and YouTube at Daniel Hill Media.
Ashley Coffey (08:45)
And I'm Ashley RCoffey89 on Instagram. If you want the highlights without the twice-a-week commitment, I've got something for you. It's my monthly free AI newsletter. You can find the link to sign up, the link in my bio on Instagram.
Daniel Hill (08:57)
You can follow the show wherever you get podcasts. And if there's a topic you want us to talk about, send us a message on social media. We will be glad to cover it. And we'll see you next time for more AI news you should know about.