World star of artificial intelligence with his ChatGPTOpenAI has just exceeded $1.6 billion in annualized revenue, driven by the success of its flagship product.
OpenAI, the Microsoft-backed company that is aiming for a $100 billion valuation (it’s almost there), is seeing its revenues skyrocket. In its latest financial update, the company reported revenue rising from $1.3 billion to $1.6 billion in just two months, as reported The Information. OpenAI can thank its paid ChatGPT Plus offer, launched at the beginning of 2023.
ChatGPT Plus boosts OpenAI’s revenue
It must be said, OpenAI was short-sighted when it launched the ChatGPT Plus subscription last February. Because in addition to being a popular success, the conversational robot has become a commercial success. Prior to this milestone, the company primarily generated revenue by providing its artificial intelligence models to developers.
The new momentum comes as OpenAI seeks to raise new funding, hoping to close its round with a $100 billion valuation. Microsoft obviously should not regret having bet big on the Californian company.
According to Reuters, OpenAI initially aimed for a more modest turnover, of the order of $200 million for the year 2023. But ChatGPT Plus surpassed all expectations, including the financial results. First $1.3 billion, in just six months, then $1.6 billion two months later, with revenue growth of 20% over this short period.
OpenAI anticipates the future with GPT-5 and targets a valuation of $100 billion
Regarding the future, OpenAI leaders are unsurprisingly optimistic. They even anticipate significant growth in revenue, hoping to climb to $5 billion by the end of 2024, which is just getting started. The company could focus its strategy on new AI services, to diversify its sources of revenue and support its growth.
Sam Altman, the former new CEO (we don’t know what to say anymore) of OpenAI, revealed in November that the company was working on the GPT-5 model. While the capabilities, new features and the launch of the extended language model remain to be clarified, this is another innovation that could strengthen OpenAI’s position in the ever-expanding AI market.
OpenAI is positioning itself for investors, with secondary market share sales valued at $27 billion to $29 billion in April. A new sale in progress, estimated at $86 billion, could also propel OpenAI’s valuation beyond $100 billion. Faced with the emergence of major competitors like Anthropic (supported by Google and Amazon), which forecasts an annualized turnover of 850 billion dollars for a valuation of 15 billion, the growing demand for AI still seems to benefit at OpenAI. The year 2024 promises to be eventful in the field of artificial intelligence!
Source : The Information
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