Big Tech's $780B AI Bet vs. 2.2% of Households Paying

Dr. Ryan Ries here. Another week, another mix of updates on this industry. You never know what you’re going to get each week!

Today we’re talking about:

1. ChatGPT’s new ads
2. Conflicting opinions on AI’s economic impact
3. Robot retirement party

Before I start, here are a couple upcoming events you should check out:

• Charlotte, NC Exec Briefing: Agentic AI in the Enterprise on 10/14
• CPU vs. GPU for Agentic AI: How to get your compute mix right on 10/15
• The Spookiness of AI Token Costs on 10/29

This week we announced Mission Cloud’s re:Invent plans. Admittedly, I am very excited about this year’s Mission Cloud IGNITE headliner: Nelly! Check out where you can see Mission Cloud at re:Invent and register for IGNITE here.

New Visual Ad Format from OpenAI and I’m not sure how to feel about it

OpenAI announced a new visual ad format for ChatGPT on October 5th and the placement is something I haven’t seen yet. The first test runs inside image generation, instead of inline chat.

Why you should care:

An image prompt tells you a lot about what someone is interested in. Someone asking for a mid-century modern living room with a conversation pit has handed over a complete shopping list of things they’re looking for.

Now according to OpenAI, these ads will carry clear labels and sit apart from the image you’re creating. OpenAI has said the ads will have no influence on ChatGPT’s answers. Testing starts later this month in the US, so I’m curious to see how these will show up.

Wall Street is bullish. Main Street is still window shopping.

A16z's State of Markets II report landed with a chart that started a lot of online arguments.

Drawing on PNC Research data, the report showed that just 2.2% of US households had a paid AI subscription as of April 2026. That number climbed from roughly zero in early 2023. It still leaves about 98% of households on free tiers or sitting out entirely.

Now look at the supply side. The same report puts capex for the five largest hyperscalers at about $780B this year, on track to pass $1T in 2027. Capacity is being poured like concrete for a city whose residents haven’t even signed leases!

There seem to be two camps for this debate.

One says we’re early on the adoption curve, and most people underestimate what current tools can do. The other camp says nobody feels like they need a frontier model to book a dinner reservation or draft an email.

I think both camps have a point. Card-based studies can miss subscriptions purchased through app stores, covered by employers, or paid for by another family member (shared Netflix password methodology). The households that do pay also keep paying more. Their average monthly spend rose from $22 in May 2024 to $31 by May 2026.

Figure gives its F.02 robots a farewell

If you think you’re unfamiliar with Figure, you’ve probably seen videos of their humanoid robots floating around the internet doing home chores. Their motto is “Figure is the first-of-its-kind AI robotics company bringing a general purpose humanoid to life.”

Recently, Figure retired its F.02 robot (seen on the left of that image above). With the F.03 fleet scaling, Figure needed to retire the F.02 units without leaking proprietary hardware or dealing with a slow teardown. The CEO asked X for ideas and Arnold Schwarznegger replied with: “melt them.” Amazing.

Apparently melting this robot wasn’t as easy as it sounded. No foundry the company approached in the US or Mexico would accept robots carrying lithium ion batteries, but finally one in Finland agreed. Figure trained the robots at its San Jose campus, building a new model in simulation with stunt performers as reference so the units could land accurately in molten steel at a foundry the team had never seen. The whole operation took 24 hours and 6 melts. Wild!

Some closing thoughts

These stories brought some questions to mind that I think are worth thinking about.

1. Which AI initiative in your portfolio would anyone actually notice if you switched it off?
2. What’s your end of life plan for the models, data, and hardware you deploy today?

How's your AI strategy going? Mission Cloud's AI Roadmapping helps you figure out where agents create real value, where they need tighter boundaries, and how to get from pilot to production without surprises. If you’re interested in having a discussion about your AI roadmap, let us know!

Until next time,
Ryan

Now, time for this week’s AI-generated image and the prompt I used to create it.

Create a picture of a felt puppet in a fuzzy bathrobe, lounging on a beach chair, watching a robot painter at an easel finish a canvas of a peaceful tropical beach. Inside the painting, a dozen tiny salespeople in business suits pop up from the sand like gophers, waving sunscreen bottles, flip flops, and timeshare brochures at the puppet. The puppet's expression is pure exhausted disbelief. A small "Sponsored" sign is staked politely in the corner of the canvas. Bright, saturated colors, comedic storybook style.