OpenAI Poaches Google and Meta Vets to Supercharge Aussie Ad Sales

OpenAI has hired two long-serving executives from Meta and Google to build out its go-to-market advertising strategy in Australia.

Mitch Pilar joins from Google, where he spent 12 years, most recently as senior industry manager. Andy Sinn worked at Meta for a decade, where he was agency partner. They will both report to Dave Dugan, OpenAI’s head of global ads solutions.

Pilar announced his move on LinkedIn, writing: “At OpenAI, I am most excited about the unique opportunity to help build an entirely new platform during a moment when people are changing the way they discover, create, plan and make decisions. I can’t wait to start shaping how AUNZ businesses show up in these moments in a way that is useful, trusted and additive.”

Sinn also announced the news, writing: “Well, that’s a wrap after 10 years at Meta. I’m grateful for the people I’ve worked alongside, the clients and agencies I’ve partnered with, and the experiences along the way.” Of his new gig, he added: “What’s exciting is that we’re still at the very beginning—and we’re moving fast.”

A company spokesperson said: “OpenAI is excited to welcome two new hires to our growing Australia and New Zealand team. They will work closely with brands and agencies across Australia and New Zealand as we continue to build our advertising solutions. Australia and New Zealand are hugely important markets for OpenAI, with people increasingly turning to our tools, including ChatGPT, to explore ideas, compare options and make decisions.”

OpenAI started piloting advertising within ChatGPT for Australian users in April. The ads are currently limited to logged-in adult users on the free and low-priced “Go” tiers. The Plus, Pro, Business and Enterprise models won’t have advertising, and the company said that ChatGPT’s answers will “remain independent and unbiased”, conversations will stay private, and users can have “meaningful control over their experience”.

In January, Paul Hewett, CEO of In Marketing We Trust, told Mumbrella the introduction of advertising into ChatGPT was a “significant moment” for marketers and media buyers, but stressed that caution is key. “The ad product may provide more insights and metrics, such as the depth of the impression within a conversation thread, which is a significant step forward. However, there are some caveats: will users actually click on them, and will they be any different from traditional display ads? Additionally, buying in a closed data environment poses challenges for marketing measurement.”