eNews
BBC.com users hit 100 million mark
MUMBAI: BBC.com, the BBC’s international website, has started 2015 on an all-time high. More than 101 million unique browsers used the website and news app globally during the month of January, generating a record 1.35 billion page views, as per Adobe Analytics new figures.
The figures come after a year, which saw BBC.com achieve sustained growth, with more unique browsers every quarter. Mobile and tablet usage of BBC.com has increased, with year-on-year unique browsers up 67 per cent and 45 per cent respectively, as greater choice and responsive technology encouraged users to turn to BBC.com for news on the go. A fully responsive tablet version of the site launched in late 2014 and a new feature-packed update to the BBC News app is due to launch in the coming months.
The driving factors for January’s figures were coverage of major global news stories, such as the Paris attacks, along with human interest stories including the resurgence of a piece about why Finnish babies sleep in boxes. Features sections such as BBC Capital and BBC Earth achieved new peak figures for page views of 7.1 million and 5.1 million, respectively, with stories on the world’s best places to retire and the Earth’s biggest turning points proving particularly popular.
In India, unique browsers for January were 3.9 million (monthly average is 3.7 million) and unique page views for January stood at 19.7 million (monthly average is 16 million).
BBC World Service Group director Fran Unsworth said, “These fantastic figures demonstrate the global demand for comprehensive coverage of world events. Our ambition is to ensure audiences are able to access world-class, up-to-the-minute news and in-depth analysis across both text and video, regardless of which platform they’re on – as the stories break and beyond.”
BBC Worldwide CEO Tim Dave added, “It is tremendous news that BBC.com has been enjoyed by over 100 million browsers in the past month. The fact that audiences are responding positively to the innovation that we have delivered across the site is particularly encouraging. Specifically, our investments across genres as well as our increasing availability across all devices, is driving strong growth.”
The BBC’s digital success also extends to social media where it was the most-shared news brand on Twitter every single month last year according to NewsWhip, with stories being shared up to four million times a month.
eNews
OpenAI researcher Zoe Hitzig resigns over ChatGPT ad plans
Zoe Hitzig says an ad-driven model could put user privacy and AI integrity at risk.
CALIFORNIA: OpenAI researcher Zoe Hitzig has resigned from the company, citing concerns about the introduction of advertising in ChatGPT. Hitzig, who spent two years working on AI development and governance, announced her departure in a guest essay for The New York Times, just as the company began testing ads.
Hitzig’s main concern is not the presence of ads itself, but the long-term financial pressure they could create. While OpenAI maintains that ads will be clearly labelled and will not influence the AI’s responses, she argues that dependence on ad revenue can eventually change how a company operates.
She also expressed concern about the vast amount of sensitive data OpenAI holds, questioning whether the company can resist the tidal forces that push businesses to monetise private information.
“I resigned from OpenAI on Monday. The same day, they started testing ads in ChatGPT. OpenAI has the most detailed record of private human thought ever assembled. Can we trust them to resist the tidal forces pushing them to abuse it?” she wrote in a post on X.
Her warning points to a growing tension between business priorities and ethical responsibility, raising the question of whether a company can deliver objective AI responses while also keeping advertisers happy. It also underscores concerns around data privacy, as OpenAI handles vast amounts of personal information, creating risks that go beyond those faced by earlier tech platforms. At the same time, there are fears about future integrity, with financial pressures potentially pushing AI systems to favour engagement over accuracy or safety.
As ChatGPT moves from a purely subscription-based model toward a more commercial approach, the industry is watching closely. For Hitzig, the shift represents a fundamental change in OpenAI’s mission, raising concerns that the drive for profit could eventually compromise the integrity of the technology.
