--- title: "OpenAI Is Losing a Flabbergasting Amount of Money on ChatGPT" description: "The Elon Musk-founded research firm that created ChatGPT is apparently hemorrhaging money on the game-changing chatbot that put it on the map" date: "2023-05-06" modified: "2023-05-06" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/openai-losing-money-chatgpt" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" - "OpenAI" tags: - "chatgpt" - "microsoft" - "OpenAI" - "the digest" --- # OpenAI Is Losing a Flabbergasting Amount of Money on ChatGPT ![The Elon Musk-founded research firm that created ChatGPT is apparently hemorrhaging money on the game-changing chatbot that put it on the map]() *\Image: Getty / Futurism\* ## Big Spender OpenAI, the [Elon Musk-founded]() research firm behind ChatGPT, is apparently hemorrhaging money on the game-changing chatbot that put it on the map. People familiar with the company's losses [confirmed to *The Information*]() that OpenAI spent upwards of $540 million last year while developing its widely-used chatbot — including funds it used to poach talent from the likes of Google. The report highlights just how expensive it is to run and maintain the popular AI tool. And OpenAI's costs are still on the rise, something that could turn the company into "the most capital-intensive startup in Silicon Valley history," as CEO Sam Altman suggested earlier this week, according to the report. ## Rising Costs *The Information*'s latest figure is roughly in line with [*Fortune*'s reporting in January]() that revealed the breakdown of the company's 2022 expenses, which totaled $544.5 million: "$416.45 million on computing and data, $89.31 million on staff, and $38.75 million in unspecified other operating expenses." These costs would have been amassed before OpenAI struck a multi-year, multi-billion dollar [deal with Microsoft]() at the beginning of this year. In April, Dylan Patel, chief analyst at consulting firm SemiAnalysis, also [told *The Information*]() that he estimated it costs $700,000 per day to run ChatGPT due to computing costs. ## Money Talks At the end of last year, [*Reuters* reported]() that OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has set the company's revenue bar very high in an investor pitch, with estimates that the firm could make $200 million this year and $1 billion next year. Compared to the $30 million OpenAi made in revenue last year, according to *Fortune*, that figure seems almost impossibly high. All the same, *The Information* also reported that Altman has privately suggested that OpenAI could raise $100 billion as it moves towards creating human-level AI or "artificial general intelligence" — an admission which, if true, says a lot about the CEO's priorities, if nothing else. **More on OpenAI:** [*Ex-OpenAI Safety Researcher Says There’s a 20% Chance of AI Apocalypse*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()