Perhaps what parent means is viable _without relying on ads_.
When Google was announced in the early 1990s the founders said they wanted to provide a search engine for the academnic realm, transparent and free from the influence of advertising. Google's original "business plan" was to license their search engine to corporations. Obviously that did not work. Netscape had a similar plan for its Navigator web browser.
No doubt some of these "AI" companies believe they can license to companies as a viable business. Meanwhile, they may end up like Netscape.
If ads are and always were a viable "business model" then why do these companies try to pursue licensing first.
Perhaps some myopia is created by mesmerising effects of certain selected companies, e.g., Google, that have operated their "ads business" free from meaningful competition or regulation, leading to immense growth and market domination, the later maintained long-term by anticompetitive behaviour.
When Google was announced in the early 1990s the founders said they wanted to provide a search engine for the academnic realm, transparent and free from the influence of advertising. Google's original "business plan" was to license their search engine to corporations. Obviously that did not work. Netscape had a similar plan for its Navigator web browser.
No doubt some of these "AI" companies believe they can license to companies as a viable business. Meanwhile, they may end up like Netscape.
If ads are and always were a viable "business model" then why do these companies try to pursue licensing first.
Perhaps some myopia is created by mesmerising effects of certain selected companies, e.g., Google, that have operated their "ads business" free from meaningful competition or regulation, leading to immense growth and market domination, the later maintained long-term by anticompetitive behaviour.