OpenAI has removed the sign-in requirement from ChatGPT searches, taking another step towards competing with Google for search advertising revenues. A Semrush analysis last November found that almost half of ChatGPT queries are already being answered using search, sending traffic to more than 30,000 unique domains. OpenAI still has some catching up to do: at the end of last year, ChatGPT had 566 million users compared with Google’s 6.5 billion.
They didn’t call it a CDP, but Meta just launched a product to “connect your first-party data from any sources to any destination, streamlining your data handling processes and unlocking valuable insights to optimize your marketing campaigns.” The name of this miracle cure is Signals Gateway, and pricing seems to start at $30 per month. Data is hosted in Amazon Web Services and, at least in theory, Meta can’t see it.
DeepSeek’s cost-effective, open source gen AI has caused a lot of excitement, but the other shoe did not take long to drop. Cybersecurity experts say DeepSeek contains code that allows it to send user data direct to the Chinese government. You’d think that might provoke calls for it to be banned in the U.S.
Preliminary findings by the European Commission state that Apple and Google are in violation of the EU’s Digital Markets Act. Among the findings, Google Search is accused of prioritizing Google’s own products and services in results; Apple is instructed to improve interoperability between iOS and third-party devices. The companies now have an opportunity to respond.