OpenAI declares it's 'clearly in the advertising business now' as AI reshapes marketing

OpenAI isn’t just building AI models anymore. It’s building an ad business, and it wants everyone to know.

At the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity on June 22, OpenAI Chief Revenue Officer Denise Dresser made the company’s intentions unambiguous during a session titled “Advertising in the Age of A.I.”

“We are clearly in the advertising business now.”

From awareness economy to intelligence economy

Dresser’s Cannes presentation framed OpenAI’s advertising strategy as something fundamentally different from traditional digital ads. The company isn’t just selling banner space inside ChatGPT. It’s pitching a wholesale transition from what Dresser called an “awareness economy” to an “intelligence economy.”