OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT AI, has just closed a monumental funding round, raising $6.6 billion, which sets its valuation at an impressive $157 billion. This investment round, led by Thrive Capital, not only marks the largest venture capital deal ever but also underscores the immense interest and confidence in AI technology’s future.
Thrive Capital took the lead, investing about $1.3 billion, with an option to pour in up to $1 billion more by next year. Other big names like Microsoft, Nvidia, and SoftBank also jumped on board, showcasing broad backing from the tech industry’s giants.
OpenAI plans to use this money to stay at the forefront of AI research, enhance its computing power, and develop more tools that help solve complex problems.
Competitors like xAI, Google, and Amazon are also investing heavily. OpenAI’s move to potentially shift to a for-profit model could allow them more flexibility in how they operate and innovate, possibly leading to new ventures like AI-specific hardware or even entire data centers.
In addition, OpenAI asked its investors not to give money to five other companies that they see as their rivals. This list includes companies like Anthropic and xAI, which is Elon Musk’s company, and also a new company by OpenAI’s co-founder, Ilya Sutskever, called SSI.
