OpenAI CEO Sam Altman Reportedly Pitches $7 Trillion AI Funding Project
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is reportedly pitching a multitrillion-dollar artificial intelligence project to investors. Altman is in discussions with backers that include the government of the United Arab Emirates to raise funds for an initiative that would increase the planet’s chip-building capabilities and artificial intelligence (AI) powering abilities, as per a recent Wall Street Journal (WSJ) report.
The Vision Behind the Funding
The WSJ cites sources familiar with the matter, one of whom said Altman’s vision of reducing the scarcity of AI chips used to train large language models (LLMs) could mean raising between $5 trillion to $7 trillion. The report also notes the uphill battle facing Altman: The amount of money in question would eclipse the current global semiconductor market, which is projected to become a $1 trillion business by the end of the decade. Such a figure would be “outlandishly large” by the standards of corporate fundraising and more than the national debt of some major world economies. A $7 trillion fundraising would be more than the combined market capitalizations of Apple and Microsoft.
The Impact of Generative AI Tools
PYMNTS examined the rapid rise in demand for generative AI tools such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT. “The ChatGPT light bulb went off in everybody’s head, and it brought artificial intelligence and state-of-the-art deep learning into the public discourse,” said Andy Hock, senior vice president of product and strategy at AI accelerator company Cerebras.
From an enterprise standpoint, generative models like ChatGPT can simulate time series data, classify languages and documents for applications in finance and legal sectors, aid in developing new pharmaceutical therapies, understand electronic health records, and predict health outcomes from treatments.
OpenAI's Growth Trajectory
News of OpenAI’s apparent plans come as the company reportedly surpassed $2 billion in annualized revenue late last year, placing the company among the ranks of tech giants like Google and Meta as one of the fastest-growing firms in history.
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