Sam Altman, co-founder and CEO of OpenAI, speaks at the New York Times annual DealBook Summit at Jazz at Lincoln Center on December 4, 2024 in New York.
Michael M. Santiago | Getty Images
After months of senior management changes, tenders and a skyrocketing valuation, OpenAI has reached another milestone: 300 million weekly active users.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman revealed the new figure Wednesday at the New York Times DealBook Summit. A source close to the company told CNBC last week that the company’s weekly active user count remains at 250 million.
However, over the next year the company would have aiming for 1 billion active users.
This is part of a serious growth plan for OpenAI, as MicrosoftBattles of artificial intelligence startups supported Amazon— backed Anthropic and Elon Musk’s xAI, the latter of which Altman told DealBook on Wednesday he considers a “fierce competitor.” The company also faces established tech giants like Google, MetaMicrosoft and Amazon for a larger share of the generative AI market, which is expected to exceed $1 trillion income in a decade.
OpenAI announced Tuesday that it had hired its first marketing directorgrabbing Kate Rouch from a crypto company Coinbase – an indication that it plans to spend more on marketing to grow its user base. In October, OpenAI launched a search feature in ChatGPT this positions it to better compete with search engines like Google, Microsoft‘s Bing and Perplexity and can attract more users who would otherwise visit these sites to conduct web searches.
Also on DealBook Wednesday, Altman denied reports that the company had asked investors not to also invest in its competitors, but said those who decide to do so would not have access to the company’s “information rights.” OpenAI, such as the company’s roadmap and other documents.
OpenAI’s valuation has soared to $157 billion in the two years since ChatGPT launched, raising around $13 billion from Microsoft. The company closed its latest $6.6 billion funding round in October and received a $4 billion revolving line of credit. Since last week, OpenAI allows employees to sell about $1.5 billion worth of stock as part of a new takeover bid for SoftBank.