Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, is seeking additional financial support from Microsoft to build “superintelligent” technology. OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, already secured a $10 billion agreement with Microsoft earlier this year. However, with increasing competition from Google, Altman wants more funds to further develop OpenAI’s AI breakthroughs. Altman’s goal is to create artificial general intelligence (AGI) that is on par with human intelligence, while also ensuring its safety and reaping its benefits. Altman sees AGI as the next phase for OpenAI, and despite the company’s successful partnerships and revenue growth, he is hungry for more investment to build the necessary computing power.
Altman envisions OpenAI as a provider of intelligence, with its existing products serving as channels to access that “magic intelligence in the sky.” Altman hopes that Microsoft will continue investing in OpenAI to support this vision. The recent partnership between OpenAI and Microsoft valued the AI company at around $29 billion, and Altman expressed satisfaction with how the deal is progressing. OpenAI is projected to achieve $1 billion in sales over the next year, largely due to their subscription service for ChatGPT. However, OpenAI’s financials remain private, and Altman has no plans to take the company public, as he wants to retain control and avoid potential conflicts with public market investors.
Altman is careful not to disclose the exact amount of additional funding he is seeking from Microsoft or OpenAI’s current training expenses. But he stressed the importance of training AI models, which requires significant financial investment. OpenAI recently launched GPT Builder, which allows users to create custom chatbots called GPTs. Altman revealed that OpenAI is working on GPT-5, the next generation of their ChatGPT model, though he did not provide a release timeline. Altman also acknowledged the difficulty of predicting the capabilities of future models, emphasizing the importance of ensuring their safety.
Meanwhile, Google is also pursuing advanced chatbot technology through an investment in Character.AI, an AI bot startup founded by former Google employees. Character.AI allows users to chat with virtual versions of celebrities and create their own chatbots. Google is in talks with the founders of Character.AI to structure a significant investment. This partnership would deepen the existing collaboration between Character.AI and Google, which involves leveraging Google’s cloud services and Tensor Processing Units (TPUs) for model training.
Both OpenAI and Google are competing to develop increasingly advanced AI models with a wide range of capabilities. While Altman remains focused on building OpenAI’s superintelligence, Google aims to enhance its position in the chatbot space with Character.AI. The future of AI development is uncertain, with unpredictability and speculation surrounding the capabilities of upcoming models like GPT-5. Nonetheless, these advancements promise to bring significant business value and shape the future of technology.
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