OpenAI has decided to remove the “app recommendations” that in recent months caused dissatisfaction among ChatGPT users and were perceived as advertisements. Although users considered the external app suggestions appearing in the chatbot’s responses in November and December as ads, the company insisted that they were merely functional recommendations.
The company’s Chief Scientist, Mark Chen, stated that these blocks have been temporarily disabled in order to improve model accuracy and to give users the option to control (turn off) this feature in the future. ChatGPT head Nick Turley spoke more firmly, emphasizing that no advertising tests are currently being conducted and that the rumors in this regard are unfounded.
The seriousness of the issue has also affected the company’s internal policy. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has instructed the team to enter a “Code Red” mode. He demanded that external projects resembling advertisements be postponed, directing all focus solely toward enhancing ChatGPT’s technical capabilities and quality.
