Chatting with Bing Just Got More Exciting - Now with Ads!

Microsoft's Bing Chat, powered by OpenAI's GPT-4, is now experimenting with placing ads in its responses. While these ads are clearly labelled as sponsored content, it raises the question of whether we've really come far from the old days of search engine ads.

In response, users are calling for a better "meta-conversation" to provide citations and potential ads to the side of the chat. However, the more dire side effect is that current tools cannot block ads like these, making them a new and potentially more subtle form of advertising.

And while no one expects Microsoft to operate Bing Chat out of the goodness of their hearts, it would be nice to see more thought into how advertising can be better integrated. Maybe instead of sponsored chat responses, we can have sponsored chatbot personalities? "Hey there, I'm sponsored by Pepsi, and I think you should try their new drink!"

The New York Times Buys Wordle, Hopes it will Spell Success for Struggling News Industry

Wordle is the biggest video game of 2022, beating out Queen Elizabeth and the election results in search volume. It is a word game that was purchased by The New York Times in January 2022. Despite its user growth plateauing, it still has more daily active users than other newspaper offerings like the crossword puzzle or sudoku.

Audience research found that younger players who tend to spend money on games would visit the Times just to play Wordle and that these players were entirely new to The New York Times.

Wordle's creator, Josh Wardle, drew inspiration from the Times' once-a-day crossword puzzle, and limited Wordle players to one game a day. Wordle's popularity has attracted millions of players a day, leading to its acquisition by The New York Times for an undisclosed seven-figure sum. Wordle has become a phenomenon, and the hope is that it will help revitalize the struggling news industry.

Google launches Ads Transparency Center to prove they're not evil

Google, the company that knows everything about us, is launching a new tool to show us all the ads we've been seeing. The Ads Transparency Center will be Google's version of a public, searchable archive of ads, just like their competitors Facebook and Twitter have done in the past. Google's tool will show all ads served in the last 30 days from their list of verified advertisers.

Google's efforts to increase transparency come at a time when they're facing pressure to prove that their advertising products and services are good for consumers. But don't worry, Google has our back. They removed 5.2 billion bad ads and suspended over 6.7 million advertiser accounts in 2022. So, if you're looking for some good ads, you've come to the right place.

Tools & Apps

Flux — Generate multiple prompt completions in a tree structure and explore the best ones in parallel.

Glue — Build teams that stick together, not just with glue.

Composer + ChatGPT — Supercharge your investment thinking by copying and pasting your logic and data into ChatGPT.

Chatbase API — Let the API create a chatbot for you based on the URL or text you provide.

Gamma — Your AI design partner for making ideas look beautiful, unlike my awkward dance moves.

Articles & Resources

How Daniel Murray Grew Marketing Millennials to 90k Subscribers — Daniel Murray shares marketing tips for millennials through a newsletter and podcast.

ChatGPT Can Be Broken by Entering These Strange Words, And Nobody Is Sure Why — Entering specific words like 'SolidGoldMagikarp' can cause ChatGPT to give bizarre responses.

GitHub Copilot X: The AI-powered developer experience — GitHub Copilot adopts GPT-4, supports pull requests, and introduces chat and voice interfaces.

30 Best Bots for Marketers in 2023 — Automate marketing tasks with these bots, so you can spend more time running your business.

Bosses want to pay you more but give you less — Freelance work is increasing as workers choose higher wages over benefits and job security.