OpenAI records a new milestone of 300 million active users per week.
TakeAway Points:
- OpenAI has achieved a new milestone: 300 million weekly active users, following months of C-suite changes, tender proposals, and a skyrocketing valuation.
- The corporation is apparently planning to almost quadruple its existing user base, reaching 1 billion over the next year.
- As part of a serious expansion strategy, OpenAI aims to take on rivals like Elon Musk’s xAI and Amazon-backed Anthropic, which Altman described as a “fierce opponent” on Wednesday.
- A cooperation between OpenAI and Anduril was launched on Wednesday, enabling the defence tech business to use cutting-edge AI systems for “national security operations.”
300 million active users
After months of C-suite changes, tender offers, and a soaring valuation, OpenAI has reached a new milestone: 300 million weekly active users.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman revealed the new figure Wednesday at The New York Times’ DealBook Summit. A source familiar with the company told CNBC last week that the company’s weekly active user count was still at 250 million.
Over the next year, though, the company is reportedly targeting 1 billion active users.
It’s part of a serious growth plan for OpenAI, as the Microsoft-backed artificial intelligence startup battles Amazon-backed Anthropic and Elon Musk’s xAI, the latter of which Altman said he views as a “fierce competitor” on Wednesday at DealBook. The company is also up against established tech giants like Google, Meta, Microsoft, and Amazon for a bigger slice of the generative AI market, which is predicted to top $1 trillion in revenue within a decade.
OpenAI hires first chief marketing officer
The company on Tuesday announced it had hired its first chief marketing officer, nabbing Kate Rouch from crypto company Coinbase—an indication that it plans to spend more on marketing to grow its user base. In October, OpenAI debuted a search feature within ChatGPT that positions it to better compete with search engines like Google, Microsoft’s Bing and Perplexity and may attract more users who otherwise visited those sites to search the web.
Also at DealBook on Wednesday, Altman denied reports that the company had asked investors not to also invest in its competitors but said that those who decide to wouldn’t have access to OpenAI’s “information rights,” like the company’s roadmap and other materials.
OpenAI’s valuation has climbed to $157 billion in the two years since it launched ChatGPT, raising about $13 billion from Microsoft. The company closed its latest $6.6 billion round in October and received a $4 billion revolving line of credit. As of last week, OpenAI is allowing employees to sell about $1.5 billion worth of shares in a new tender offer to SoftBank.
OpenAI And Defense Company Anduril Team Up
Anduril and OpenAI announced a collaboration on Wednesday that will enable the defence tech business to use cutting-edge AI systems for “national security operations.”
It’s part of a broader and controversial trend of AI companies not only walking back bans on military use of their products but also entering into partnerships with defense industry giants and the U.S. Department of Defense.
Last month, Anthropic, the Amazon-backed AI startup founded by ex-OpenAI research executives, and defense contractor Palantir announced a partnership with Amazon Web Services to “provide U.S. intelligence and defense agencies access to [Anthropic’s] Claude 3 and 3.5 family of models on AWS.” This fall, Palantir signed a new five-year, up to $100 million contract to expand U.S. military access to its Maven AI warfare program.
The OpenAI-Anduril partnership announced Wednesday will “focus on improving the nation’s counter-unmanned aircraft systems (CUAS) and their ability to detect, assess, and respond to potentially lethal aerial threats in real-time,” according to a release, which added that “Anduril and OpenAI will explore how leading edge AI models can be leveraged to rapidly synthesize time-sensitive data, reduce the burden on human operators, and improve situational awareness.”
Anduril, co-founded by Palmer Luckey, did not answer a question about whether reducing the onus on human operators will translate to fewer humans in the loop on high-stakes warfare decisions. Luckey founded Oculus VR, which he sold to Facebook in 2014.
Partnership to enhance military personnel protection
OpenAI said it was working with Anduril to help human operators make decisions “to protect U.S. military personnel on the ground from unmanned drone attacks.” The company said it stands by the policy in its mission statement of prohibiting use of its AI systems to harm others.
The news comes after Microsoft-backed OpenAI in January quietly removed a ban on the military use of ChatGPT and its other AI tools, just as it had begun to work with the U.S. Department of Defense on AI tools, including open-source cybersecurity tools.
Until early January, OpenAI’s policies page specified that the company did not allow the usage of its models for “activity that has high risk of physical harm,” such as weapons development or military and warfare. In mid-January, OpenAI removed the specific reference to the military, although its policy still states that users should not “use our service to harm yourself or others,” including to “develop or use weapons.”
Raised concerns
The news comes after years of controversy about tech companies developing technology for military use, highlighted by the public concerns of tech workers — especially those working on AI.
Employees at virtually every tech giant involved with military contracts have voiced concerns after thousands of Google employees protested Project Maven, a Pentagon project that would use Google AI to analyze drone surveillance footage.
Microsoft employees protested a $480 million army contract that would provide soldiers with augmented-reality headsets, and more than 1,500 Amazon and Google workers signed a letter protesting a joint $1.2 billion, multiyear contract with the Israeli government and military, under which the tech giants would provide cloud computing services, AI tools, and data centers.
