The biggest VC deal ever

OpenAI just raised $6.6 billion

Image credit: Image Creator in Microsoft Bing/DALL.E and Canva

On Wednesday, OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, secured $6.6 billion in new funding, bringing its valuation to $157 billion. According to Axios, it is the largest venture capital deal in history.

Here are a few key points:

• The funding, led by Thrive Capital and including major investors like SoftBank, Microsoft, and Nvidia, reinforces OpenAI's leadership in AI. Apple withdrew from negotiations to participate.

• The funds will help OpenAI advance AI research, expand computing capacity, and develop new tools like Sora, a text-to-video product.

• The company, which became famous after launching ChatGPT in 2022, now has 1,700 employees and plans to develop a successor to GPT-4.

• Despite projected losses of $5 billion in 2024, OpenAI continues to grow rapidly.

• OpenAI's prominence has sparked competitive investment in generative AI by tech giants such as Google and Microsoft.

• The company has also faced internal challenges, including leadership changes and a brief coup against CEO Sam Altman.

• Investors now demand a restructuring of OpenAI into a traditional for-profit firm.

• The company also faces a lawsuit from Elon Musk, who claims OpenAI has strayed from its original non-profit mission.