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SAN FRANCISCO — The generative AI pioneer OpenAI reportedly expects to lose about $5 billion this year, according to The New York Times.
The company’s losses come as OpenAI expects to generate $3.7 billion in annual revenue, according to CNBC.
OpenAI expects to more than 3x its revenue next year and generate $11.6 billion in revenue, CNBC reports.
The report by The New York Times on OpenAI’s losses is out as the company is reportedly raising a $6.5-billion round, including investments by Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft, an existing backer, as well as the Santa Clara, California-based AI chip maker NVIDIA, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Tokyo-based SoftBank Vision Fund, part of the conglomerate SoftBank Group, is reportedly planning to invest $500 million in OpenAI in the round, according to The Information.
OpenAI’s reported losses are occurring despite a fast-growing user base of 200 million active weekly users of ChatGPT, according to VentureBeat, API revenue, various partnerships — such as recent ones with Apple, Condé Nast and Los Alamos National Laboratory — and at least $13 billion in backing from Microsoft.
OpenAI's costs include ballooning compute expenses as the company grows — including for graphics processing units (GPUs) to power its AI products and related data centers and energy — as well as ongoing AI model R&D and product development and premium AI salaries. There are over 3,700 people employed by OpenAI, according to LinkedIn.
The company released its o1 reasoning model this month.
See more: Is OpenAI’s New o1 Model the Big Step Forward We’ve Been Waiting For?
Throughout September, three OpenAI executives announced they’re leaving the company: CTO Mira Muratil; Chief Research Officer Bob McGrew; and research leader Barret Zoph, according to the AP.
A number of other OpenAI executives, including co-founders, left the company this year.
