Zookeepers in Prague turn into puppeteers to save baby vultures

PRAGUE (AP) — Zookeepers in Prague sometimes have to become puppeteers to save newborn birds rejected by their parents. This was the case for a lesser yellow-headed vulture chick hatched three weeks ago.

Bird keeper Antonín Vaidl said Thursday that when a dummy egg disappeared from the nest, it signaled to keepers that the parents were not ready to care for their two babies, despite doing so in 2022 and 2023.

The first-born is being kept in a box and fed using a puppet designed to mimic a parent bird, while another is expected to hatch in the next few days.

Vaidl said the puppet is needed to make sure the bird will be capable of breeding, which it won’t if it gets used to human interaction.

He explained that the puppet doesn’t have to be a perfect replica of an adult bird because the chick responds to certain signals, such as the pale orange coloration on its featherless head and neck.

Lesser yellow-headed vultures live in the wild in Latin America and Mexico. Prague Zoo is one of only three zoos in Europe that breed them.

In the past, the park successfully applied this treatment to save the critically endangered Javan green magpie and two rhinoceros hornbill chicks. The puppet-feeding technique is applicable for birds that live in pairs.

“The method has been working well,” Vaidl said. “We’ll see what happens with the vultures."

A lesser yellow-headed vulture that hatched three weeks ago is being fed by using a puppet that imitates a parent bird at the zoo in Prague, Czech Republic, Thursday, July 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

A lesser yellow-headed vulture that hatched three weeks ago is being fed by using a puppet that imitates a parent bird at the zoo in Prague, Czech Republic, Thursday, July 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

A lesser yellow-headed vulture that hatched three weeks ago is being fed by using a puppet that imitates a parent bird at the zoo in Prague, Czech Republic, Thursday, July 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

A lesser yellow-headed vulture that hatched three weeks ago is being fed by using a puppet that imitates a parent bird at the zoo in Prague, Czech Republic, Thursday, July 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

A lesser yellow-headed vulture that hatched three weeks ago is being fed by using a puppet that imitates a parent bird at the zoo in Prague, Czech Republic, Thursday, July 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

A lesser yellow-headed vulture that hatched three weeks ago is being fed by using a puppet that imitates a parent bird at the zoo in Prague, Czech Republic, Thursday, July 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

A lesser yellow-headed vulture that hatched three weeks ago is being fed by using a puppet that imitates a parent bird at the zoo in Prague, Czech Republic, Thursday, July 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

A lesser yellow-headed vulture that hatched three weeks ago is being fed by using a puppet that imitates a parent bird at the zoo in Prague, Czech Republic, Thursday, July 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

A lesser yellow-headed vulture that hatched three weeks ago is being fed by using a puppet that imitates a parent bird at the zoo in Prague, Czech Republic, Thursday, July 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

A lesser yellow-headed vulture that hatched three weeks ago is being fed by using a puppet that imitates a parent bird at the zoo in Prague, Czech Republic, Thursday, July 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

A lesser yellow-headed vulture that hatched three weeks ago is being fed by using a puppet that imitates a parent bird at the zoo in Prague, Czech Republic, Thursday, July 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

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)