--- title: "Major AI Companies Aren’t Even Pretending to Make Money" description: "AI companies working on foundation models have yet to even break even, let alone turn record-breaking investments into profit." date: "2026-01-31" modified: "2026-01-31" authors: - name: "Joe Wilkins" job_title: "Correspondent" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jwilkins" url: "https://futurism.com/future-society/ai-companies-foundation-revenue" categories: - "Finance" - "Future Society" - "Investing" --- # Major AI Companies Aren’t Even Pretending to Make Money ![AI companies working on foundation models have yet to even break even, let alone turn record-breaking investments into profit.]() *Illustration by Tag Hartman-Simkins / Futurism. Source: Getty Images* In a way, Silicon Valley has always asked investors to suspend disbelief to fund pie-in-the-sky projects, but the AI boom calls for something closer to a full break from financial reality. It's 2026. Last year, investors lavished [$80 billion]() on foundation AI companies — the ones building huge, general-purpose AI systems. They all have yet to even break even, let alone [turn a profit](). That being the case, you may ask yourself: is anyone even *trying* to make money from all this AI stuff? The answer, as [*TechCrunch* AI editor Russell Brandom]() explains, is a resounding "not really, no." In order to keep track of who's doing what in the AI space, Brandom came up with a five-level scale to grade AI companies. Of course, with so few projects actually bringing in revenue, financial success isn't very helpful for tracking performance. Instead, Brandom went with a vibes-based system, rating companies based on how hard they're *trying* to make money. "The idea here is to measure ambition, not success," he writes. The scale maxes out at level five — "we are already making millions of dollars every day, thank you very much" — and goes down to level one, where "true wealth is when you love yourself." Brandom starts with humans&, a relatively quiet AI company with a name that looks like a typo which has received plenty of [good]() [press]() lately. Despite [raising $480 million]() for a valuation of $4.48 billion, the company has [yet to articulate]() an actual product it plans on shipping, earning it a rating of level three, meaning "we have many promising product ideas, which will be revealed in the fullness of time." Safe Superintelligence (SSI), a hazy "superintelligent AI" company founded by Ilya Sutskever, the [eccentric former chief scientist]() of OpenAI, gets a level one. SSI is so committed to its vague vision that it turned down a [$32 billion acquisition from Meta]() — an incredibly generous offer for a company that had [yet to generate any revenue]() at the time of its $20 billion valuation. "There are no product cycles, and, aside from the still-baking superintelligent foundation model, there doesn't seem to be any product at all," Brandom writes. "With this pitch, \[Sutskever\] raised $3 billion!" Meanwhile, the $2 billion company Thinking Machines Lab could be due for a downgrade from level four to level two, indicating "we have the outlines of a concept of a plan." Thinking Machines Lab was co-founded by Mira Murati, who had served as the chief technology officer — and very briefly as CEO, during the [mutiny against Sam Altman]() — at OpenAI. Now Thinking Machines is suffering something of a coup of its own over recent weeks, the [*New York Times* reported](), with high-level officials defecting to other AI companies as the much-hyped startup descends into a "perpetual soap opera." One thing's for sure: if confidence could be bottled and sold, these companies would be profitable on day one. **More on AI:** *[Scientist Horrified as ChatGPT Deletes All His Research]()* ## Author At Futurism, I focus on the intersection of technology and power — examining the economics, history, and politics behind today’s dystopian headlines. As a writer, I’m interested in topics ranging from AI’s impact on labor to startups nobody asked for. My prior work includes bylines in Jacobin, Verso, and Blue Labyrinths. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Forbes, The Guardian, MIT Technology Review, Time, The Nation, Mother Jones, The Verge, and Wired. I grew up in Michigan, attending Central Michigan University as well as Ball State University, where I earned a master of music. I now live in Brooklyn with my girlfriend and our cat Ziti. On weekends, you can find me hunched over a cold pint arguing geopolitics with the other transplants. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()