ChatGPT-parent OpenAI is setting a target to reach 1 billion users by 2025, driven by new AI products, a key partnership with Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL), and significant infrastructure investments.
What Happened: "[In 2025] we will be coming into our own, as a research lab serving millions . . . hoping it can be billions of consumers around the world," OpenAI's CFO Sarah Friar told the Financial Times.
After securing over $6 billion in funding at a $150 billion valuation in October, she stated that OpenAI plans to raise additional capital through both equity and debt. "We're in a massive growth phase, it behoves us to keep investing. We need to be on the frontier on the model front. That is expensive."
To meet its goals, OpenAI plans to build data center clusters in the U.S. Midwest and Southwest, according to policy chief Chris Lehane.
This move mirrors strategies used by major tech companies like Alphabet Inc.'s (NASDAQ: GOOG) (NASDAQ: GOOGL) Google and Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN).
Lehane wants OpenAI to spearhead the development of AI that is led by the U.S. and aligns with democratic values, contrasting it with the Chinese approach.
"This administration has talked . . . about the imperative of . . . U.S.-led AI prevailing over Chinese-led AI. And if you want that to happen as the U.S. government . . . then OpenAI is going to have to be in the middle of that conversation," he said.
Why It Matters: Previously it was reported that OpenAI is preparing to launch a new AI agent, called "Operator," in January. Other major tech companies, like Microsoft and Alphabet, have already launched or are getting ready to introduce similar AI agent tools.
Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ: META) CEO Mark Zuckerberg has also spoken about the shift from chatbots to AI agents, which can manage more complex tasks and objectives.
Nvidia Corporation (NASDAQ: NVDA) CEO Jensen Huang has also predicted that AI employees will soon become an integral part of the corporate workforce.
Meanwhile, OpenAI is currently navigating a complex political landscape, with Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk filing a lawsuit against the startup and its backer, Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT).
Regarding this, OpenAI's policy chief stated, "I think the way we think about it is we control what we can control.