In chatgpts case it'd be losing customers. It's a no win game. You just piss every group off and the anger and loss of users way out weighs the gain of customers on the other side. So just try and piss no one off on things that are politicized.
Most big businesses aren't afraid to piss certain people off. But are afraid to piss others off. There was a time when businesses avoided politics. Not anymore - now Big Business is eagerly embracing politics and is not afraid to push political agenda and partisan preferences. It looks like they think some people are worth to be afraid of, and some people's opinion doesn't really matter. We'll see if they are right.
I don't think big businesses have ever avoided politics. Try being openly gay and get hired in the 80s or being a woman trying to be an executive in the 80s. Businesses did openly discriminate. And that is political.
The shift happened because businesses became dependent on more and more talent for continued growth. Suddenly having a large contingent of your workforce threaten to quit because some dude wants to spout off about women not being as naturally smart as men is really bad business; and it's not surprising that businesses respond to the incentives and axe the dude spouting off.
