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.”

Early data suggests this isn’t just marketing speak. Since OpenAI launched its advertising pilot in February 2026, the company has seen a 50% decrease in users dismissing ads within ChatGPT. That’s a remarkable engagement metric by any standard, and it explains why the company is projecting potential ad revenue reaching as high as $100 billion.

For context, Meta generated roughly $130 billion in ad revenue in 2023. OpenAI is essentially signaling it wants to play in the same league.

Dresser’s pitch at Cannes wasn’t aimed solely at chief marketing officers, either. The company is actively courting agencies and positioning AI as a transformative operating model rather than just another tool in the marketing stack.

What this means for crypto markets

Here’s where it gets interesting for digital asset investors. OpenAI remains a private company, which means retail investors can’t buy equity through traditional channels. That gap has spawned a cottage industry of tokenized exposure products, some of which carry significant risk.

Case in point: Solana-based PreStocks tokens, which purport to offer synthetic exposure to OpenAI shares, dropped approximately 39% in May 2026. The decline came amid growing concerns about the legitimacy of the share transfer processes underlying these tokens, with warnings extending to tokenized products linked to several AI firms beyond just OpenAI.

The timing creates a fascinating tension. On one side, OpenAI is making its most aggressive public case yet for massive revenue generation through advertising, a narrative that should theoretically boost confidence in the company’s valuation. On the other side, the instruments that crypto-native investors use to gain exposure to that upside are themselves under scrutiny.

The competitive landscape and what to watch

Google has been integrating AI into its ad products for years. Meta has rebuilt its targeting infrastructure around AI after Apple’s privacy changes decimated its old model. OpenAI entering this space doesn’t just mean a new revenue stream for the company. It means a potential reshuffling of how hundreds of billions in global ad spending gets allocated.

For crypto investors watching the AI sector, the key metrics to track are straightforward. First, watch OpenAI’s ad engagement data beyond the initial 50% improvement in dismissal rates. Second, monitor regulatory action around tokenized equity products. The May 2026 PreStocks decline could be a preview of broader enforcement. Third, pay attention to whether any major AI company actually embraces on-chain infrastructure for advertising, payments, or data markets.

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