Pedersen makes it 3 wins out of 5 at Giro d'Italia to extend his overall lead

MATERA, Italy (AP) — Overall leader Mads Pedersen made it three wins out of five at this year’s Giro d’Italia as he won a bunch sprint at the end of the fifth stage on Wednesday.

Pedersen just managed to edge out Edoardo Zambanini in a finish that was so close the Lidl-Trek rider had to ask a teammate: “Did I win? Are you sure?”

Tom Pidcock was third at the end of the 151-kilometer (94-mile) route from Ceglie Messapica to the UNESCO World Heritage site of Matera, which is renowned for its “Sassi,” or ancient cave dwellings.

The 29-year-old Pedersen also won two of the three opening stages in Albania to take the leader's pink jersey back to Italy.

“Now it’s really incredible and to win in this jersey as well, it’s insane and it’s way more than I ever dreamt about," Pedersen said. “What a Giro we have and what a team I have around me.”

With the bonus seconds Pedersen picked up, the Danish cyclist extended his lead over pre-race favorite Primoz Roglic to 17 seconds, with Mathias Vacek another seven seconds back.

With a kilometer to go, Pedersen appeared too far back but he managed to get up to the front before a late corner and then got a great lead out from Vacek.

Pedersen then launched his final sprint early and just barely held off Zambanini, who almost managed to beat him after coming up along the barriers.

“I used a lot of energy to move back up on Vacek’s wheel," Pedersen said. "I had to spend energy to come back to at least fight for the win. Then luckily I had enough for the last sprint. So that was a really tough one.”

Prior to this year's race, Pedersen had only won one stage in the Giro, two years ago in Naples — where Thursday's sixth stage also ends.

“Every day we try to win as as much as possible and we try again tomorrow,” he said.

The stage is the longest leg of the three-week race and has two categorized climbs on the 227-kilometer route from Potenza.

The Giro ends in Rome on June 1.

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The pack cycles during the fifth stage of the Giro d'Italia cycling race from Ceglie Messapica to Matera, Italy, Wednesday, May 14, 2025. (Fabio Ferrari/LaPresse via AP)

The pack cycles during the fifth stage of the Giro d'Italia cycling race from Ceglie Messapica to Matera, Italy, Wednesday, May 14, 2025. (Fabio Ferrari/LaPresse via AP)

Denmark's Mads Pedersen, in the pink jersey, sprints to win the fifth stage of the Giro d'Italia cycling race from Ceglie Messapica to Matera, Italy, Wednesday, May 14, 2025. (Gianmattia D'Alberto/LaPresse via AP)

Denmark's Mads Pedersen, in the pink jersey at center, sprints to win the fifth stage of the Giro d'Italia cycling race from Ceglie Messapica to Matera, Italy, Wednesday, May 14, 2025. (Massimo Paolone/LaPresse via AP)

Denmark's Mads Pedersen, in the pink jersey, celebrates winning the fifth stage of the Giro d'Italia cycling race from Ceglie Messapica to Matera, Italy, Wednesday, May 14, 2025. ( Gianmattia D'Alberto/LaPresse via AP)

OpenAI says it will soon start showing advertisements to ChatGPT users who aren't paying for a premium version of the chatbot.

The artificial intelligence company said Friday it hasn't yet rolled out ads but will start testing them in the coming weeks.

It's the latest effort by the San Francisco-based company to make money from ChatGPT's more than 800 million users, most of whom get it for free.

Though valued at $500 billion, the startup loses more money than it makes and has been looking for ways to turn a profit.

“Most importantly: ads will not influence the answers ChatGPT gives you,” said Fidji Simo, the company’s CEO of applications, in a social media post Friday.

OpenAI said the digital ads will appear at the bottom of ChatGPT's answers “when there’s a relevant sponsored product or service based on your current conversation.”

The ads “will be clearly labeled and separated from the organic answer,” the company said.

Two of OpenAI’s rivals, Google and Meta, have dominated digital advertising for years and already incorporate ads into some of their AI features.

Originally founded as a nonprofit with a mission to safely build better-than-human AI, OpenAI last year reorganized its ownership structure and converted its business into a public benefit corporation. It said Friday that its pursuit of advertising will be “always in support” of its original mission to ensure its AI technology benefits humanity.

But introducing personalized ads starts OpenAI “down a risky path” previously taken by social media companies, said Miranda Bogen of the Center for Democracy and Technology.

“People are using chatbots for all sorts of reasons, including as companions and advisors," said Bogen, director of CDT’s AI Governance Lab. “There’s a lot at stake when that tool tries to exploit users’ trust to hawk advertisers’ goods.”

OpenAI makes some money from paid subscriptions but needs more revenue to pay for its more than $1 trillion in financial obligations for the computer chips and data centers that power its AI services. The risk that OpenAI won’t make enough money to fulfill the expectations of backers like Oracle and Nvidia has amplified investor concerns about an AI bubble.

“It is clear to us that a lot of people want to use a lot of AI and don’t want to pay, so we are hopeful a business model like this can work,” said OpenAI CEO Sam Altman in a post Friday on social platform X. He added that he likes the ads on Meta's Instagram because they show him things he wouldn't have found otherwise.

OpenAI claims it won't use a user's personal information or prompts to collect data for ads, but the question is “for how long,” said Paddy Harrington, an analyst at research group Forrester.

“Free services are never actually free and these public AI platforms need to generate revenue,” Harrington said. “Which leads to the adage: If the service is free, you’re the product.”

FILE - The OpenAI logo is displayed on a mobile phone in front of a computer screen with output from ChatGPT, March 21, 2023, in Boston. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer, File)