Tech Brew Ride Home – January 19, 2026

Episode Title: "Ads Come To ChatGPT"
Host: Brian McCullough
Podcast: Tech Brew Ride Home (Morning Brew)
Date: January 19, 2026

Episode Overview

This episode delivers a rapid-fire briefing on the latest drama, growth, and debate shaking the tech world. The main story: OpenAI’s decision to roll out advertisements in ChatGPT, and the fierce online dialogue about the capabilities—and risks—of new AI tools like Anthropic’s Claude. Other notable topics include Elon Musk seeking billions in damages from OpenAI, tumult at Thinking Machines Lab, and a wildly popular new AI documentary.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Ads Coming to ChatGPT

Starts ~[01:20]

• OpenAI will start testing ads on ChatGPT for free and low-tier "Go" users in the US. Ads will display beneath chatbot answers, clearly marked and contextually relevant.
  • "OpenAI expects to make in the low billions of dollars from ads in 2026 alone."
    — Brian ([01:32])
  • Personalization: OpenAI plans to leverage user "memories"—stored information from conversations—for hyper-personalized ads. Users can opt out and erase memories.
• Revenue & Compute Requirements: OpenAI’s anticipated ad windfall aims to support massive, compute-heavy infrastructure, projected to require $1.4 trillion in the next decade.
• Monetization Trend: OpenAI’s annual revenue run rate in 2025 topped $20 billion—a tenfold rise from 2023—directly following leaps in compute capacity.
  • "This is never before seen growth at such scale." —Brian, quoting CFO Sarah Fryer ([04:12])
• Financial Pressures:
  • Annual burn reportedly exceeds $17 billion; subscription revenue alone is insufficient.
  • Rumors of a new $80B funding round underway.

2. Claude Fever & The Next AI Leap

Starts ~[06:28]

• Anthropic’s Claude Opus 4.5 and Claude Code earned “cult” status among coders and non-coders alike, sparking the term “Claude Pilled.”
  • "It's the moment software engineers, executives and investors turn their work over to Anthrop Claude AI and then witness a thinking machine of shocking capability." —The Journal, quoted by Brian ([06:47])
• Productivity Explosion:
  • Example: Malte Ubel (Vercel CTO) completed a year’s project in a week with Claude Code.
  • Many report feelings of excitement, awe, and existential discomfort as AI tools appear to “one-shot” skills laboriously learned over decades.
    • "It's amazing and it's also scary... I spent my whole life developing this skill and it's literally one shotted by Claude code." — Andrew Duka, CEO of Awaken Tax ([08:18])
• Broader Impact:
  • Non-engineers are adopting these tools for tasks like health data analysis, expense reports, and more.
  • Market stats: Claude’s web audience more than doubled in December, daily unique visitors up 12% globally month-to-month.
  • "The bigger story here is going to be when this goes beyond software engineering… how far does it go?" — David Hsu, CEO of Retool ([09:10])

3. Market Disruption and Wall Street Fears

Starts ~[09:30]

• Investor Anxiety: Software-as-a-service (SaaS) stocks tank in the face of AI tools like Claude.
  • Intuit fell 16% in a week, Adobe and Salesforce slid more than 11%.
  • Morgan Stanley’s SaaS stock basket is down 15% YTD after losing 11% in 2025.
• AI Undercutting Traditional Software:
  • Investors question the future of subscription software models as AI agents automate complex workflows faster and around the clock.
  • "It's hard to know what multiple they should be trading at if they're going up against AI agents that are running 24/7 and have the ability to complete tasks with big projects getting done in a day." — Brian Wong, Osterweis Capital ([11:11])

4. Elon Musk’s Lawsuit Against OpenAI

Starts ~[12:24]

• Musk Seeks $79–$134 Billion in Damages: He alleges OpenAI abandoned its founding nonprofit charter, defrauding him of not just his $38 million seed donation but massive “wrongful gains.”
  • "Just as an early investor in a startup company may realize gains many orders of magnitude greater than the investor's initial investment..." — Musk’s attorney, as quoted by Brian ([12:54])
  • Federal judge rejected OpenAI/Microsoft’s attempt to avoid a jury trial, set for late April in Oakland, California.

5. Tumult at Thinking Machines Lab

Starts ~[14:04]

• Mass Departures: CEO Mira Murati fired CTO and co-founder Barret Zoff for "poor performance and speaking with competitors." Four more key staff quit, with several joining OpenAI.
  • Nearly 5% of staff gone in one week, including two of six co-founders.
  • Raises doubts about a new funding round targeting a $50B valuation.
    • "Ordinarily, the departure of about 5% of a startup staff... wouldn't necessarily be a source of serious concern, but those departures included two of the company's six co-founders and came after a third... left for Meta Platforms in the fall." ([15:03])
• Talent Retention: Thinking Machines lured early staff with nearly zero-strike stock options, now at risk as organizational turbulence mounts.

6. Big Movie Moment: "The Thinking Game"

Starts ~[16:52]

• Blockbuster AI Documentary: Directed by Greg Kohs with inside access to Google DeepMind and co-founder Demis Hassabis.
  • Tracks landmark achievements including DeepMind’s breakthrough in modeling proteins.
  • "The Thinking Game is about both Google DeepMind and the singular mind of Demis Hassibas, its co founder and chief executive, who has devoted his life to cracking the mysteries of intelligence." ([17:13])
  • Massive hit: Nearly 300 million YouTube views, surpassing last year’s top MrBeast video.
  • Surge in Google/Alphabet’s value runs parallel to the documentary’s release, helping audiences grasp the tech giant’s momentum in AI.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "OpenAI expects to make in the low billions of dollars from ads in 2026 alone." — Brian ([01:32])
• "This is never before seen growth at such scale." — Brian, quoting CFO Sarah Fryer ([04:12])
• "It's amazing and it's also scary... I spent my whole life developing this skill and it's literally one shotted by Claude code." — Andrew Duka, Awaken Tax ([08:18])
• "The bigger story here is going to be when this goes beyond software engineering… how far does it go?" — David Hsu, Retool ([09:10])
• "It's hard to know what multiple they should be trading at if they're going up against AI agents that are running 24/7." — Brian Wong, Osterweis Capital ([11:11])
• "Just as an early investor in a startup company may realize gains many orders of magnitude greater than the investor's initial investment..." — Musk’s legal team ([12:54])
• "The Thinking Game is about both Google DeepMind and the singular mind of Demis Hassibas..." — Brian ([17:13])

Key Timestamps

• [01:20] – OpenAI’s ChatGPT ads announcement and financial context
• [06:28] – “Claude fever” and transformative productivity stories
• [09:30] – SaaS stocks hit by fear of AI automation
• [12:24] – Elon Musk’s lawsuit damages details
• [14:04] – Thinking Machines exodus and funding risk
• [16:52] – Documentary “The Thinking Game” and its viral momentum

Episode Tone & Style

Energetic, quick-witted, and data-rich; Brian weaves quotes from industry figures and journalists into a brisk narrative, keeping focus on the whirlwind of tech disruption and business drama without losing sight of the broader context or industry emotion.

This summary should give any busy listener a thorough, engaging run-down of January 19th’s fast-paced news cycle, with all the key drama and insights at a glance.