The Wall Street Journal reports that OpenAI has been missing internal growth targets. CFO Sarah Friar warned management that if revenue growth doesn't pick up, the company may not be able to pay for its future compute contracts. The board has also been reviewing data center investments, questioning CEO Sam Altman's continued expansion amid slowing business.
ChatGPT missed its internal target of 1 billion weekly active users by the end of last year. The company hasn't published that number; the Associated Press reported on April 16 that the latest figure is "over 900 million." ChatGPT also missed its annual revenue target, with Google's Gemini — which is reportedly getting a new version very soon — eating into its share. Earlier this year, Anthropic further eroded OpenAI's position in coding and enterprise markets, leading to multiple consecutive months of missed revenue. Subscription churn is also a headache.
Altman last year signed roughly $600 billion in compute procurement commitments. The company recently completed a $122 billion funding round — the largest single round in Silicon Valley history. But internal forecasts suggest that even if revenue targets are met, that money will last only three years, and some of it comes with strings attached. Friar is also cautious about going public by the end of the year, arguing that internal controls aren't yet up to public company standards; Altman is pushing for a faster IPO. The two issued a joint statement via the WSJ denying any rift, saying they are "completely aligned" on buying as much compute as possible and calling the idea of scaling back compute "absurd." Meanwhile, the number two person at the company, Fidji Simo, unexpectedly took medical leave earlier this month — a leadership gap that comes as Greg Brockman has taken over product integration.