Privately held OpenAI has hired its first chief marketing officer, wooing Kate Rouch away from cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase Global (COIN).
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The hiring or Rouch comes as OpenAI says that it is considering adding advertisements to its artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots as it looks to drive revenue growth. Rouch had worked at Coinbase since 2021, where she led global marketing and public relations at the crypto exchange.
Rouch also spent 11 years at Meta Platforms (META) earlier in her career. At Meta, she was global head of brand and product marketing for Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger, and Facebook. She takes on an entirely new role at OpenAI as the company also looks to transition to a for-profit entity.
Ads on ChatGPT?
At the same time that OpenAI is hiring a chief marketing officer, it is also considering selling advertisements on its AI chatbots such as ChatGPT. In an interview with The Financial Times, OpenAI chief financial officer (CFO) Sarah Friar said ads are being considered.
Friar didn’t offer a timeframe on when ChatGPT users may see advertisements, saying the company wants to be “thoughtful about when and where we implement” ads. OpenAI’s valuation has climbed to $157 billion in the two years since it first launched ChatGPT. The company has also received $13 billion in funding from Microsoft (MSFT), which is its biggest corporate backer.
Is MSFT Stock a Buy?
As OpenAI is not publicly traded, we look instead at Microsoft. The stock of Microsoft has a consensus Strong Buy rating among 29 Wall Street analysts. That rating is based on 26 Buy and three Hold ratings assigned in the last three months. The average MSFT price target of $496.92 implies 15.24% upside from current levels.
