Hey there!

For those of you who reached out when last week's newsletter went missing - thank you!! The entire family got hit with a stomach flu, but we're all recovered now ❤️

It's almost the end of January and I feel like I'm just getting started with 2026. Stay with me though, we are getting there😂

So last week, OpenAI announced something that's been rumored for months: ads are coming to ChatGPT.

Starting in the coming weeks, free users and those on the new $8/month "Go" tier in the US will see sponsored content at the bottom of their conversations.

Here is some context for those of you who are not as obsessed with this space as I am: Just 18 months ago, Sam Altman said he "hates ads" and called combining AI with advertising "uniquely unsettling."

He mentioned that the only way he would ever consider ads was if there was no other choice for OpenAI and they were running out of 💰.

Here is what Sam Altman is saying now: "It is clear to us that a lot of people want to use a lot of AI and don't want to pay," he wrote on X. "So we are hopeful a business model like this can work."

Uniquely unsettling → hopeful it can work.

I'm not here to bash OpenAI. They're burning through roughly $8 billion a year in computing costs. They need revenue. I get it.

But this announcement reminds us about something much bigger than ChatGPT, something we all know but prefer not to think about.

Remember when social media was just about connecting with friends?

Then came the ads. Then came the algorithms optimized to keep you scrolling so you can see those ads. Then came the dopamine loops, the infinite feeds, the "one more video" autoplay that somehow turns 5 minutes into 2 hours.

We didn't notice it happening because it was gradual. We didn't realize we were paying with something far more valuable than money.

Our attention and time.

Our capacity to think clearly and create intentionally.

Social media companies learned that the longer they kept us engaged, the more ads they could serve, the more money they'd make.

The business model itself created an incentive to capture and hold our attention at all costs.

And now that same model is entering the AI tools many of us use every single day.

In the attention economy, there are only two currencies. You either pay with your money or you pay with your mind.

When you use a free, ad-supported tool, the company's incentive isn't necessarily to help you accomplish your goal as efficiently as possible.

Their incentive is to keep you engaged long enough to see (and click) ads.

Interestingly, OpenAI have stated that ads won't influence ChatGPT's answers and that they do not optimize for time spent in ChatGPT.

My question to that is: how long will they be able to keep this promise? 18 more months? Or less, when they realize they need more money and it’s waaaaay more efficient for ads ROI when the products are causally mentioned in the chat conversation… You see where I am going with this?

There is absolutely no guarantee that this will not happen sooner or later.

If there is one thing we’ve learned from watching the social media era unfold (yes I am that old millennial that got her first iphone in late 20s): incentives matter.

Business models shape behavior. And once ads enter the equation, the pressure to increase engagement never goes away, it only intensifies.

I genuinely believe we're heading toward a world where people fall into two broad categories:

Category One: People who consume insane amounts of content: brain rot, ads, infinite scrolling across platforms designed to capture and monetize their attention. Same people tend to chase get-rich-quick schemes that promise results without building real skills. They don't pay for subscriptions, so they pay with their focus, their time, and increasingly, their ability to think independently. They spend time commenting on random posts that spiked their dopamine. None of it leads to anything substantial or sustainable. No real skills built. No real wealth created. Just dopamine hits from empty pursuits.

Category Two: People who approach these tools as an investment. They invest in keeping their attention intact. They are deep into learning how to use AI to serve their business and life. They go beyond surface-level usage to actually master these tools. They are intentional in how they are using social media. They don’t see it as way to “spend time”, but rather they invest time to create content that moves the needle for their business. They understand that building skills and creating something real over the long term is how sustainable wealth is built.

This second group also tends to skip the "is AI good or bad?" debates. They understand there's nuance. They're willing to look behind the curtain and see the game for what it is.

It’s not really about the money or access that is gatekept from the general population - a ChatGPT Plus subscription costs less than two fancy coffees per week.

It's about intention and understanding the game behind it and what "free" actually costs.

That's the nature of these platforms - they're designed to pull us in.

Here is the good news:

This isn't a fixed identity you are stuck with. It's a daily practice of learning, understanding how these systems work, being intentional about your boundaries - what you say yes to, what you say no to.

And all of that can be built and cultivated. Every time you notice yourself slipping into consumption mode and pull yourself back - the muscle getting stronger.

Just to be clear: I'm not saying everyone should pay for everything or that free tools are inherently bad.

Neither am I encouraging you to pay for ChatGPT paid subscription specifically (I myself have reduced the role of ChatGPT in my business to only 10-20% in favor of Claude and Gemnini. I have paid subscriptions to them all)

What I am saying is that this moment of ads entering AI assistants that many of us talk to more than we talk to friends - is a overdue wake-up call to get intentional.

So ask yourself:

We all know this by now but it is worth reminding:

The only person thinking about how to protect your attention is you.

AI isn't going anywhere. And neither is the economic pressure to monetize your attention.

Social media algorithms learned your patterns. They figured out what would keep you scrolling based on your clicks and likes.

Generative AI is having the conversations with you. It knows your goals, your struggles, your business challenges, your half-formed ideas. Many of us have had that uncanny moment: "This thing understands me better than most people in my life."

That intimacy is exactly what makes these tools so powerful for creation and business AND exactly what makes them so valuable for advertisers.

So the question isn't whether to use these tools.

It's whether you're using them or they're using you.

I think about this constantly. It shapes how I build my business, how I teach, what I pay for, what I refuse to engage with.

Definitely not because I have it all figured out, but because I know the cost of not paying attention to where my attention goes.

Hope to see you on the bright side of creators and builders!

Until next week,

Your AI Solopreneur Bestie,

Elena

🚀 If you want to learn how to use AI tools for your business in a way that feels authentic, without losing your voice or compromising your values - come join us in the AI Solopreneur Club.