OpenAI announced this Wednesday that it had closed the new funding round that it had been negotiating for months and which had caused a schism within the organization. Developer ChatGPT has raised $6.6 billion in what becomes the largest venture capital investment deal in history. According to the agreement, its partners value OpenAI at $157 billion (around 142 billion euros).
The organization needed a new infusion of capital after racking up losses of around $5 billion this year alone and failing to establish a profitable business model. “The new funds will allow us to redouble our leadership in cutting-edge artificial intelligence research, increase computing capacity, and continue creating tools that help people solve difficult problems,” OpenAI said. “By collaborating with key partners, including the governments of the United States and its allies, we can realize the full potential of this technology,” he added.
The creator of ChatGPT received a $10 billion injection from Microsoft in 2023, but it was a corporate deal that included credits to use the multinational’s data centers and cloud computing capacity, not just money. Microsoft, as well as Nvidia and SoftBank, also participated in this round, as these companies confirmed in recent days.
As revealed by Axios, the agreement provides for the permanent conversion of OpenAI into a private company. The organization, born as a non-profit laboratory to develop open source artificial intelligence and help understand this technology, will have to return the money to investors if it does not complete the process within two years. However, this would already be very advanced, as revealed by the resignations of many founders and directors of OpenAI since the summer.
Sam Altman, the company’s CEO, is the last member of the founding team to remain at the helm of the company. Clashes between supporters of keeping the organization true to its original mission as a laboratory and Altman led to his firing in November 2023. However, a mutiny of investors and employees, in which Microsoft itself mediated , gave him back his position a few days later.
“We are advancing our mission to ensure that artificial general intelligence benefits all of humanity,” OpenAI insisted in its press release: “Our goal is to make advanced intelligence a widely accessible resource. “We thank our investors for their trust in us and look forward to working with our partners, developers and the broader community to shape an AI-powered ecosystem and future that benefits everyone.”
