umami_wasabi
link
fedilink
English
212M

Is OpenAI profitable now?

@ddplf@szmer.info
link
fedilink
English
22M

Wait, since when it had not been? Or are you telling me that vastly the fastest growing platform in history with multiple payment gates (subscriptions, pay per token, licensing etc.) was not profitable for some reason?

@dan@upvote.au
link
fedilink
English
32M

They’ve never been profitable and current estimates say they won’t be profitable until at least 2029: https://www.businessinsider.com/openai-profit-funding-ai-microsoft-chatgpt-revenue-2024-10

@selokichtli@lemmy.ml
link
fedilink
English
32M

They should ask ChatGPT hoe to make OpenAI profitable. I’m sure the answer will make them take off.

It’s following the Amazon monopolization model.

facow [he/him, any]
link
fedilink
English
102M

Or are you telling me that vastly the fastest growing platform in history with multiple payment gates (subscriptions, pay per token, licensing etc.) was not profitable

Are you not aware that 99 times out of 100 if you see a tech company rapidly growing it’s completely unprofitable and not even attempting to be profitable yet? It’s called blitzscaling and is pretty clearly what openai is attempting. Like if you see a tech company quickly growing you should be assuming it’s unprofitable until proven otherwise not the opposite lol.

Estimates from earlier this year are that they spend $2.35 for every $1 they make.

@catloaf@lemm.ee
link
fedilink
English
152M

Running those datacenters is extremely expensive.

@Flocklesscrow@lemm.ee
link
fedilink
English
19
edit-2
2M

The cost is to the whole world, because they consume enormous amounts of energy and produce essentially nothing. Like bitcoin miners.

AI at least provides a clear product that can be a helpful workforce multiplier, whereas Bitcoin provided an unprotected alternative to traditional markets with none of the safeguards nor legal precedents of traditional markets, so it’s only led to illegal activities piled upon illegal activities

TheDoctor [they/them]
link
fedilink
English
162M

Worse than Bitcoin miners, AI seems to have the wholethroated support of capital (rather than a single faction), who see it as the next big form of automation

umami_wasabi
link
fedilink
English
18
edit-2
2M

Last time I heard, no. They are burning money to train new models.

sp3ctr4l
link
fedilink
English
322M

Not sure if you are joking but… it does not appear to be making anywhere near the amount of money that has been invested in it.

It costs a stupendous amount of money to develop the models, to train them, to rent out or just buy the hardware needed to do this, to pay for the electrical power to do this.

@ddplf@szmer.info
link
fedilink
English
252M

Not joking, I’m just underinformed

Now that I think of it, yeah, it makes absolute sense. It’s not a stable income OpenAI is based on, but rather the endless wagons of money from hyped up sponsors. Very much unsustainable.

The Assman
link
fedilink
English
72M

the endless wagons of money from hyped up sponsors

For the record, that describes almost every big software company in the last 30 years.

@cygnus@lemmy.ca
link
fedilink
English
9
edit-2
2M

It isn’t even close to making a profit. They are bleeding billions per year with no obvious path to breaking even, let alone profiting enough to justify their enormous valuation. It’s very much a bubble and I look forward to the day it pops.

Edit: if you want a lengthy read on the subject https://www.wheresyoured.at/oai-business/

To be fair, if I had an option to effectively invest in Google circa 2004 in 2024 I would toss some spare money at it, and that’s basically what OpenAI is offering at this moment. They’ve established themselves, shown strong leadership and established strong relationships with major companies. They’re a leader in a particular product segment and while they could falter and fail, there’s enough momentum that they’re more likely to be acquired than to actually fail, plus they’re swimming in extremely uncharted waters so there’s plenty of opportunities for them to both greatly improve ongoing operational efficiency and to create new products with new markets, much like where Google was in 2004

@dan@upvote.au
link
fedilink
English
112M

A recent report estimates that they won’t be profitable until 2029: https://www.businessinsider.com/openai-profit-funding-ai-microsoft-chatgpt-revenue-2024-10

A lot can happen between now and then that would cause their expenses to grow even more, for example if they need to start licensing the content they use for training.

On the other hand some breakthrough in either hardware or software could make AI models significantly cheaper to run and/or train. The current cost in silicon is insane and just screams that there’s efficiencies to be found. As always, in a gold rush, sell pickaxes

@dan@upvote.au
link
fedilink
English
22M

Definitely a possibility! It’ll be interesting to see what happens.

@Albbi@lemmy.ca
link
fedilink
English
322M

Is OpenAI open still?

No and no.

Never really was

No and AI almost never will be. However, investor money keeps coming, so it doesn’t matter.

Piracy: ꜱᴀɪʟ ᴛʜᴇ ʜɪɢʜ ꜱᴇᴀꜱ
!piracy@lemmy.dbzer0.com
Create a post
⚓ Dedicated to the discussion of digital piracy, including ethical problems and legal advancements.

Rules • Full Version

1. Posts must be related to the discussion of digital piracy

2. Don’t request invites, trade, sell, or self-promote

3. Don’t request or link to specific pirated titles, including DMs

4. Don’t submit low-quality posts, be entitled, or harass others



Loot, Pillage, & Plunder

📜 c/Piracy Wiki (Community Edition):


💰 Please help cover server costs.

Ko-Fi Liberapay
Ko-fi Liberapay

  • 1 user online
  • 51 users / day
  • 265 users / week
  • 776 users / month
  • 3.17K users / 6 months
  • 1 subscriber
  • 3.58K Posts
  • 84.8K Comments
  • Modlog