OpenAI is pursuing a large new round of investment even as the artificial intelligence industry warns about the technology's risks and calls for slowing the pace of development. The move is likely to fuel debate, as critics have already argued that the industry's calls for caution are an attempt by big AI companies to protect their own interests.
The Financial Times reported on the 15th, citing sources, that OpenAI is considering additional fundraising at a target valuation of $1.2 trillion, or about 1,630 trillion won, ahead of an initial public offering. In March, OpenAI raised $122 billion at a valuation of $852 billion. If the new round goes ahead, it would be the first time OpenAI is valued above $1 trillion. The talks are said to have begun at the suggestion of investors rather than OpenAI itself. The discussions remain at an early stage, and the timing of any fundraising depends on when OpenAI goes public, the sources said.
The funding talks appear to have emerged as the IPO plan was pushed back. OpenAI had originally aimed to list this year at a valuation of $1 trillion, but has delayed the offering until next year amid growing concern about the risks of rapid AI advances. Chief Executive Sam Altman said on the 12th that a listing before 2027 was unlikely, adding that pushing ahead with an IPO would be an unwise decision at a time of mounting concern about the existential risks AI could bring.
While OpenAI has at least postponed its IPO timetable, Anthropic — the most vocal advocate of slowing AI development — is proceeding with a listing this year as planned. Axios reported on the 14th, citing multiple sources, that Anthropic remains likely to go public this year despite the sudden prominence of AI safety concerns.
OpenAI's Ad Rollout at "Unprecedented" Speed Draws Doubts About Its Safety Message
Faced with soaring computing costs and the need to keep ChatGPT's free tier running, OpenAI is also moving aggressively into advertising. Altman once called the combination of advertising and artificial intelligence "uniquely unsettling," but ultimately relented in the face of monetization pressure.
OpenAI began testing ads in February for some U.S.-based ChatGPT users, displaying labeled boxes for relevant brands beneath AI-generated answers, and the service is now available in more than 50 countries seven months after launch. The company said last month it was on pace to reach $1 billion in annualized advertising revenue. OpenAI has also hired a series of former Meta employees to strengthen its advertising business. Dan Salmon, an analyst at New Street Research, said the pace of OpenAI's advertising rollout was "impressive and unprecedented."
The stance of big AI chief executives, who stress the dangers of the technology while pushing hard on monetization, has drawn criticism. Some argue that large AI companies with deep pockets and organizational muscle are promoting the case for slowing AI development in order to block the rise of smaller rivals.
Aidan Gomez, chief executive of the Canadian AI startup Cohere, asked in a commentary on the 13th whether the world should let a handful of market-dominant Silicon Valley AI companies define the rules and safety standards for an era-defining technology on behalf of everyone. These oligopolistic firms, he wrote, are now demanding the authority to rewrite the rules of competition in their own favor and to dictate the terms that will apply to everyone else, calling it a wolf in sheep's clothing and a cartel by another name.
Yahoo Finance said that over the past two years the two chief executives — Anthropic's Dario Amodei and Altman — had worked to attract more money by packaging the technology as a money-printing machine, and that the lack of safeguards around AI and lawmakers' failure to grasp its risks were entirely their responsibility. It added that they now deserve the blame of an angry global public.
