AI startup Anthropic claims that its generative AI chatbot Claude will remain completely ad-free forever. At a time when OpenAI recently announced that ChatGPT will start incorporating ads in its conversations, the Dario Amodei-led startup takes a swipe at this mode of making money.
In a blog on Wednesday, the startup wrote that AI conversations are bound to be more personal and trust-based than search or social media.
“We want Claude to act unambiguously in our users’ interests. So we’ve made a choice: Claude will remain ad-free. Our users won’t see “sponsored” links adjacent to their conversations with Claude; nor will Claude’s responses be influenced by advertisers or include third-party product placements our users did not ask for,” Anthropic wrote in the blog.
They argue that advertising creates a conflict of interest. An assistant influenced by ads might subtly steer users toward products or purchases, making it hard to know whether advice is genuinely helpful or commercially motivated.
“Being genuinely helpful is one of the core principles of Claude’s Constitution, the document that describes our vision for Claude’s character and guides how we train the model. An advertising-based business model would introduce incentives that could work against this principle,” the company added.
In its claim to remain ad-free forever, Anthropic adds that it will instead generate revenue by increasing its enterprise subscriptions.
“Our business model is straightforward: we generate revenue through enterprise contracts and paid subscriptions, and we reinvest that revenue into improving Claude for our users,” the company added.
This is not the first time Anthropic has openly criticised ChatGPT. According to a report by The Wall Street Journal, the startup took a jab at OpenAI in its Super Bowl ad debut on the same issue of advertising in conversations with chatbots.
In a blog on Wednesday, the startup wrote that AI conversations are bound to be more personal and trust-based than search or social media.
“We want Claude to act unambiguously in our users’ interests. So we’ve made a choice: Claude will remain ad-free. Our users won’t see “sponsored” links adjacent to their conversations with Claude; nor will Claude’s responses be influenced by advertisers or include third-party product placements our users did not ask for,” Anthropic wrote in the blog.
They argue that advertising creates a conflict of interest. An assistant influenced by ads might subtly steer users toward products or purchases, making it hard to know whether advice is genuinely helpful or commercially motivated.
“Being genuinely helpful is one of the core principles of Claude’s Constitution, the document that describes our vision for Claude’s character and guides how we train the model. An advertising-based business model would introduce incentives that could work against this principle,” the company added.
In its claim to remain ad-free forever, Anthropic adds that it will instead generate revenue by increasing its enterprise subscriptions.
“Our business model is straightforward: we generate revenue through enterprise contracts and paid subscriptions, and we reinvest that revenue into improving Claude for our users,” the company added.
This is not the first time Anthropic has openly criticised ChatGPT. According to a report by The Wall Street Journal, the startup took a jab at OpenAI in its Super Bowl ad debut on the same issue of advertising in conversations with chatbots.