Sam Altman says ‘enough’ to questions about OpenAI’s revenue

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman lately stated that the corporate is doing “nicely extra” than $13 billion in annual income — and he sounded slightly testy when pressed on the way it can pay for its huge spending commitments.

His feedback got here up throughout a joint interview on the Bg2 podcast between Altman and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella concerning the partnership between their two firms. Host Brad Gerstner (who’s additionally founder and CEO of Altimeter Capital) introduced up reports that the company is currently bringing in around $13 billion in revenue — a large quantity, however one which’s dwarfed by greater than $1 trillion in spending commitments for computing infrastructure that OpenAI has made for the following decade.

“To start with, we’re doing nicely extra income than that,” Altman stated. “Second of all, Brad, if you wish to promote your shares, I’ll discover you a purchaser. I simply — sufficient. I believe there are lots of people who would love to purchase OpenAI shares.”

“Together with myself,” Gerstner interjected.

Altman then added that there are critics who “speak with numerous breathless concern about our compute stuff or no matter that may be thrilled to purchase our shares.”

In reality, he stated that though there are “not many occasions” when he desires OpenAI to be a public firm, “One of many uncommon occasions it’s interesting is when these individuals are writing these ridiculous ‘OpenAI is about to exit of enterprise’ [posts], I’d love to inform them they might simply quick the inventory, and I’d like to see them get burned on that.”

Altman acknowledged that there are methods the corporate “may screw it up” — for instance by failing to get entry to sufficient computing assets — however he stated that “income is rising steeply.”

“We’re taking a ahead guess that it’s going to proceed to develop, and that not solely will ChatGPT continue to grow, however we can develop into one of many vital AI clouds, that our shopper gadget enterprise can be a big and vital factor, that AI that may automate science will create enormous worth,” he added.

Nadella, who laughed by way of a lot of Altman’s reply, additionally claimed that OpenAI has “overwhelmed” each marketing strategy that it’s given Microsoft as an investor.

Gerstner returned to the topic of OpenAI’s revenues and IPO plans later within the interview, when he speculated concerning the firm reaching $100 billion in income in 2028 or 2029.

“How about ‘27?” Altman countered.

On the similar time, he denied studies that OpenAI plans to go public subsequent yr.

“No no no, we don’t have something that particular,” Altman stated. “I’m a realist, I assume it should occur sometime, however I don’t know why folks write these studies. We don’t have a date in thoughts, we don’t have a board choice to do that or something like that. I simply assume it’s the place issues will ultimately go.”