Good morning. Today, OpenAI’s experience suggests that the customer might not be right about everything, all the time; Lindsey Graham says AI can’t have free reign; Netflix’s co-CEOs appear on stage in New York; and GLP-1s show drugmakers the light on selling direct-to-consumer.

When OpenAI CEO Sam Altman called a “code red” to fend off a rising threat from Google, he told employees to boost ChatGPT in a specific way that would resonate with marketing leaders: through “better use of user signals.” Put another way, listen to your customer.

At OpenAI, those signals include distillations of which responses people preferred in head-to-head comparisons that ChatGPT showed millions of times a day, Sam Schechner, Berber Jin and Keach Hagey report in a fascinating dive into the company’s “code red” moment.

Altman’s memo also said ChatGPT should top “things like LM arena,” a website that ranks models based on visitors’ picks in side-by-side matchups.

But even feedback that’s so crisp and continuous leaves judgment calls.

• Is the customer always right?
• How much value should companies give to evaluations by company professionals, rather than users?

OpenAI grappled with those questions.

​​An internal shift to rely more on that user feedback had helped make ChatGPT’s 4o model so sycophantic earlier this year that it has been accused of exacerbating severe mental-health issues for certain users.

The company says it has since tweaked its training, among other responses, to make sure user-feedback signals don’t become too powerful a voice.

But its long-awaited GPT-5, touted in August as “less effusively agreeable” with “fewer unnecessary emojis,” also upset some users with its colder tone.

Altman subsequently restored 4o to ChatGPT for paying subscribers.

“I think the key to all this is as the technology develops, we need to create laws that when you apply that technology, you're responsible for it,” Graham told the WSJ Leadership Institute’s CEO Council Summit in Washington, D.C., which began last night. “That's a moderating influence.”

“Rosie the robot, you know, the maid, if she burns down the entire apartment complex, you're on the hook,” he said, referring to the old TV show “The Jetsons.”

“If you got a driverless car and you run somebody over, you're on the hook as the AI company.”

Graham also said President Trump wants to convene an AI summit.

Video: Watch Graham’s take on AI here.

More AI: Google has told two advertising clients that it plans to introduce ads to Gemini in 2026. [Adweek]

The WSJ Leadership Institute’s Katie Deighton reports from Day 1 of the UBS Global Media and Communications Conference in New York:

The vest-wearers of the media industry packed an auditorium on Madison Avenue on Monday to hear Netflix’s co-CEOs just hours after Paramount made a $77.9 billion hostile bid for the streamer’s planned acquisition, Warner Bros Discovery.

Sporting matching open collars and self-assured demeanors, Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters described Paramount’s play as “entirely expected.” A combined Netflix/Warner would protect jobs, boost the Hollywood economy and still release new titles in theaters, they added, attempting to calm nerves 2,400-plus miles to the west.

“If we did this deal 24 months ago, all those movies we saw this year that did so well at the box office for Warner Brothers would have been released in the same way,” Sarandos said.

But things would have been different for HBO, which will return to focusing on prestige TV if Netflix takes control, the executives said.

HBO has “been doing gymnastics to make themselves into a general entertainment brand, and I think under this transaction, they don’t have to do that anymore,” Sarandos said.

Earlier in the day at UBS, Publicis CEO Arthur Sadoun said he was happy that rival ad holding company Omnicom successfully closed its acquisition of Interpublic last month.

The consolidation to form a new industry leader by revenue shrank the competitive landscape for Publicis and increased the “clarity” around different players, Sadoun said.

More on Hollywood’s new saga: Behind Paramount’s relentless campaign to woo Warner Bros. Discovery and President Trump. [WSJ]

Drugmakers are increasingly selling medicine directly to patients, often at lower prices, in a huge shift after decades of generally going through pharmacies and middlemen called pharmacy-benefit managers, Peter Loftus writes for The Wall Street Journal.

Their online services’ growth reflects just how comfortable consumers have gotten with getting healthcare digitally plus one other factor you can probably guess: demand for the new weight-loss drugs.

It’s not just a hot product that makes direct-to-consumer work here, though. Insurance policies play a big part, by exposing many people to full price for GLP-1s.

And, like in so many other categories that boom online, social virality plays a big part. Yes, you can get DTC with treatments for diabetes, psoriasis and cardiovascular disease. But the influencers are talking about something else.

The community where marketing leaders drop the corporate speak and share what’s actually happening. The WSJ CMO Council unites leaders from the world’s most influential brands including Adobe, Audi, Google, IBM, Intel, Johnson & Johnson, Meta, Taco Bell, P&G and Verizon.

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Now Cracker Barrel fans think the food isn’t up to scratch, either. [WSJ] 

The biggest brand fails of 2025. [Ad Age]

“Hydration breaks” twice in every World Cup match regardless of temperature will give tournament broadcasters the chance to run more mid-action advertising. [The Sun] 

Jimmy Kimmel signed an extension to stay on ABC, which briefly suspended his late-night show earlier this year, at least through 2027. [Bloomberg] 

The Golden Globes nominations included the first contenders for a new “best podcast” category, including “Good Hang with Amy Poehler,” Jason Bateman’s ensemble “Smartless,” Alex Cooper’s “Call Her Daddy” and “Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard.” [WSJ] 

Former Wendy’s and Potbelly executive Brandon Rhoten was named chief marketing officer at Dave’s Hot Chicken. [FastCasual.com]

Long John Silver’s named Laura Curth Ellis, a former director of retail marketing at KFC, its new chief marketing officer. [QSR Web] 

PepsiCo struck an agreement with activist investor Elliott Investment Management, committing to steps including lowering prices in its slowing food business and reducing the number of individual products by 20% across its U.S. businesses. [WSJ] 

Gap teamed up with Summer Fridays on a clothing collection, its first collaboration with a beauty brand, ahead of its entry into cosmetics, skincare and fragrance next year. [Business of Fashion]

Gen Z seems to be posting fewer Christmas wish lists on TikTok this year, but the lists to be found suggest that there’s a new “it” hoodie, blanket and smart alarm clock. [After School]