Thank you. That link discloses there was at least one instance where OpenAI paid for his time.
I will reformulate my question to ask instead if the page is still 100% correct or needs an update?
Thank you. That link discloses there was at least one instance where OpenAI paid for his time.
I will reformulate my question to ask instead if the page is still 100% correct or needs an update?
It's current. I last modified it in October: https://github.com/simonw/simonwillisonblog/commits/main/tem...
Thank you. Your disclosure page is better than all other AI commentators as most disclose nothing at all. You do disclose an OpenAI payment, Microsoft travel, and the existence of preview relationships.
However I would argue there are significant gaps:
- You do not name your consulting clients. You admit to do ad-hoc consulting and training for unnamed companies while writing daily about AI products. Those client names are material information.
- You have non payments that have monetary value. Free API credits, and weeks of early preview access, flights, hotels, dinners, and event invitations are all compensation. Do you keep those credits?
- The "I have not accepted payments from LLM vendors" could mean receiving things worth thousands of dollars. Please note I am not saying you did.
- You have a structural conflict. Your favorable coverage will mean preview access, then exclusive content then traffic, then sponsors, then consulting clients.
- You appeared in an OpenAI promotional video for GPT-5 and were paid for it. This is influencer marketing by any definition.
- Your quotes are used as third-party validation in press coverage of AI product launches. This is a PR function with commercial value to these companies.
The FTC revised Endorsement Guides explicitly apply to bloggers, not just social media influencers. The FTC defines material connection to include not only cash payments but also free products, early access to a product, event invitations, and appearing in promotional media all of which would seem to apply here.
They also say in the FTC own "Disclosures 101" guide that states [2]: "...Disclosures are likely to be missed if they appear only on an ABOUT ME or profile page, at the end of posts or videos, or anywhere that requires a person to click MORE."
https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/resources/disclosures-...
[2] - https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/documents/plain-language/10...
I would argue an ecosystem of free access, preview privileges, promotional video appearances, API credits, and undisclosed consulting does constitute a financial relationship that should be more transparently disclosed than "I have not accepted payments from LLM vendors."
The problem with naming my consulting clients that some of them won't want to be named. I don't want to turn down paid work because I have a popular blog.
I have a very strong policy that I won't write about someone because they paid me to do so, or asked me to as part of a consulting engagement. I guess you'll just have to trust me that I'll hold to that. I like to hope I've earned the trust of most of my readers.
I do have a structural conflict, which is one of the reasons my disclosures page exists. I don't value things like early access enough to avoid writing critically about companies, but the risk of subtle bias is always there. I can live with that, and I trust my readers can live with it too.
I've found myself in a somewhat strange position where my hobby - blogging about stuff I find interesting - has somehow grown to the point that I'm effectively single-handedly running an entire news agency covering the world's most valuable industry. As a side-project.
I could commit to this full-time and adopt full professional journalist ethics - no accepted credits, no free travel etc. I'd still have to solve the revenue side of things, and if I wrote full time I'd give up being a practitioner which would damage my ability to credibly cover the space. Part of the reason people trust me is that I'm an active developer and user of these tools.
On top of that, some people default to believing that the only reason anyone would write anything positive about AI is if they were being paid to do so. Convincing those people otherwise is a losing battle, and I'm trying to learn not to engage.
So I'm OK with my disclosures and principles as they stand. They may not get a 100% pure score from everyone, but they're enough to satisfy my own personal ethics.
I have just added disclosures links to the footer to make them easier to find - thanks for the prod on that: https://github.com/simonw/simonwillisonblog/commit/95291fd26...
The problem with these "shill for an AI company" thoughts is that it really doesn't matter how good their shilling or salesmanship is. They actually do need to provide value for it to be successful
These aren't tools they're asking $25,000 upfront for, that they can trick us that it for sure definitely works and get the huge lump sum then run
Nah.. at best they get a few dollars upfront for us to try it out. Then what? If it doesn't deliver on their promise, it flops
>> at best they get a few dollars upfront for us to try it out.
The hyperscalers are spending 600 billion a year, and literally betting their companies future, on what will happen over the next 24 months...but the bloggers are all doing it for philanthropy and to play with cool tech....Got it...
It doesn't matter
Let's say super popular blogger x is paid a million dollars to shill for AI and they convince you it's revolutionary. What then? Well of course you try it! You pay OpenAI $20 for a month
What happens after that, the actual experience of using the product, is the only important thing. If it sucks and provides no value to anyone, OpenAI fails. Sleezy marketing and salesmen can only get you in the door. They can't make a shit product amazing
A $10,000 get rich quick course can be made successful on hopes, dreams and sales tactics. A monthly subscription tool to help people with their work crashes and burns if it doesn't provide value
It doesn't matter how many people shill for it
Some of us bloggers have been writing about cool tech for 20+ years already. We didn't need to get paid to do it then, why should we need to be paid now?
Simon Willison has publicly posted many times that he finds it frustrating that people call him a shill for the AI industry
I don't think it's unreasonable to say that your enumerated list would be considered beyond simply being enthusiastic about a new technology