Privately held OpenAI has hired its first chief marketing officer, luring Kate Rouch away from cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase Global (COIN).
The hiring of Rouch comes as OpenAI says that it is considering adding advertisements to its artificial intelligence (A.I.) chatbots 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), where she was global head of brand and product marketing for Instagram and Facebook.
She takes on an entirely new role at OpenAI as the company also looks to transition to a for-profit business model.
OpenAI is also considering selling advertisements on it’s A.I. chatbots such as ChatGPT.
In an interview with The Financial Times newspaper, OpenAI chief financial officer (CFO) Sarah Friar said ads are being considered at the company.
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 U.S. in the two years since it launched ChatGPT. The company has also received $13 billion U.S. in funding from Microsoft (MSFT).
The stock of OpenAI doesn’t trade on a public exchange.
