I can drop in replace LLMs in my everyday usage. If OpenAI introduces ads, I will switch and never look back. They have no Moat, and right now the Chinese companies catch up shortly after the models are released… All these arguments about average people not knowing about other LLM companies can be fixed with a simple internet search or information sharing. No big deal.
For most average users, that includes your average mothers, fathers, uncles, aunts, cousins etc, chatGPT is a magical all knowing tool that mostly spits out good answers to their mundane questions. Just like Google does. But better. Instead of more clicking action and more load and more brain actions required in google, chatGPT simply gives you the answer.
We have to wait and watch if the product is going to be good. If so, there is going to be some drop in Google's value.
> and right now the Chinese companies catch up shortly after the models are released…
This'll be the big one: if ChatGPT has ads but $service does not yet provides a similar service, they have nothing to stand on.
ChatGPT isn't unique, unlike Google at the time which was miles ahead at the time - and no (western) search engine has been able to catch up, even if they have less ads or better search results.
They dont have to be, they just have to be smart enough to remove anything that sounds like a brand from a "good cloud model". This is barely beyond if-else if we start tracking all brands doing the advertising
And for the rest, why not wait a few months until the cheap Chinese model is on par (or better)?
If OpenAI introduced ads to my workflow after all the money I've paid them, there's 0 loyalty or "ethically American" purchase decision vs paying the Chinese.
