OpenAI's $3.7 billion in revenue won't save the ChatGPT maker from an imminent $5 billion loss in 2024 — Microsoft and NVIDIA's anticipated round funding might (UPDATED)

What you need to know

• OpenAI is reportedly on the verge of bankruptcy with projections of a $5 billion loss.
• The startup spends $7 billion on training its AI models and $1.5 billion on staffing.
• The ChatGPT maker's operation costs aren't satisfied by the approximate $3.5 billion generated in revenue.

According to a source with close affiliations with the AI firm, it generated $300 million in revenue in September, which translates up to 1,700% since the beginning of last year. The source further disclosed that the ChatGPT maker is expected to generate up to $11.6 billion in sales in 2025 (via CNBC).

This news comes as OpenAI's board of directors is reportedly considering restructuring the AI firm into a for-profit venture, after Elon Musk slammed Sam Altman and OpenAI with a new lawsuit, citing a stark betrayal of its founding mission and fake humanitarian efforts. Last month, two high-profile executives departed from the firm, including Chief Technology Officer Mira Murati, Chief Research Officer Bob McGrew, and Vice President of Research Barret Zoph.

OpenAI is set to close its latest round of funding sometime this week, which could potentially push its market capitalization to $150 billion. Microsoft, NVIDIA, and Apple are reportedly part of the round funding, but a new report indicates Apple abruptly dropped out of the plans at the eleventh hour for unclear reasons.

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The booming AI business strategy is placing major tech corporations invested in the landscape on a profitable path. In the past few months, we've watched Microsoft, Apple, and NVIDIA battle for the world's most valuable company crown. Market analysts attribute their growth in revenue and profits to their early investment in and adoption of the technology across their products and services. 

Ironically, OpenAI, a key player in the AI landscape, could make losses amounting to $5 billion in 2024. According to a report by The Information, the ChatGPT maker might be on the brink of bankruptcy, with projections indicating it could run out of cash in the next 12 months.

For context, OpenAI spends up to $700,000 daily to keep ChatGPT running. The amount is likely to fluctuate as the model becomes more sophisticated and advanced. The report sheds more light on OpenAI's financial status, citing that the firm is well on its way to spending a whopping $7 billion on training its AI models and an additional $1.5 billion on staffing. These expenses alone stack miles ahead of its rivals' expenditure predictions for 2024.

OpenAI is running on fumes, but remains focused on AGI

OpenAI reportedly receives discounted access to Microsoft's Azure services. However, the rapid advances of its AI ventures are placing the firm in a financially strained position. 

According to a report by Appfigures, GPT-4o's launch led to the "biggest spike ever" in OpenAI's ChatGPT revenue and downloads on mobile. The start generates up to $2 billion annually from ChatGPT and an additional $ 1 billion from LLM access fees, translating to an approximate total revenue of between $3.5 billion and $4.5 billion annually. 

RELATED: ChatGPT's fate hangs in the balance as OpenAI reportedly edges closer to bankruptcy

However, this barely covers the firm's operational costs. It's worth noting that the company has already gone through seven rounds of funding, raising over $11 billion, and is currently valued at $80 billion. It's also reported that OpenAI is running near total capacity, with 290,000 of its 350,000 servers dedicated to its AI assistant, ChatGPT.

While it remains unclear if OpenAI will find an alternative source of income or secure additional funding for its advances, CEO Sam Altman is entirely focused on achieving artificial general intelligence (AGI).