OpenAI’s revenue skyrockets to $1.6 billion annualized revenue as ChatGPT dominates the generative AI race

OpenAI, the creator of the popular ChatGPT, experienced explosive revenue growth during the final quarter of 2023. OpenAI’s annualized revenue crossed the $1.6 billion mark, up from $1.3 billion in mid-October, The Information reported, citing two sources familiar with the figure.

This impressive 20% growth over two months, calculated by multiplying the prior month’s revenue by 12, indicates the company’s ability to sustain its business momentum in artificial intelligence, even amidst a leadership crisis in November. Despite the challenges, OpenAI managed to retain its customer base and fend off competition from rivals vying for its clients, The Information reported.

OpenAI’s financial success skyrocketed after introducing a paid version of ChatGPT in February. Notably, in August, the company unveiled ChatGPT Enterprise, catering specifically to business users seeking a commercial version of the widely-used conversational AI chatbot.

To put things into perspective, OpenAI’s total revenue for the entire year of 2022 amounted to a modest $28 million. The advent of ChatGPT has significantly propelled OpenAI’s business, establishing it as a key indicator of the growing demand for generative AI.

Meanwhile, OpenAI’s nonprofit arm revealed in its recent filing with the IRS that it generated $44,485 in revenue in 2022, mostly from investment income. The non-profit revenue details were disclosed through a 990 form, mandatory for all non-profit organizations, submitted to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The majority of this income stemmed from investments, while grants and donations contributed only a small portion.

Founded in 2015 by Elon Musk and Sam Altman, OpenAI began as a non-profit research institution with a mission to ensure the positive impact of AI on humanity. Over the years, it has developed influential AI systems, including the GPT-3 language model and the innovative DALL-E 2 image generation model. Microsoft has invested at least $13 billion in the company, contributing to its significant valuation of $86 billion.