OpenAI

OpenAI is an artificial intelligence research organization founded in 2015. It created AI chatbot ChatGPT. Competitors include other AI research organizations such as DeepMind and Google Brain. OpenAI was founded by Sam Altman, former president of startup accelerator Y Combinator, Greg Brockman, former chief technology officer and third employee of Stripe, and Ilya Sutskever, a former Google expert on machine learning. Microsoft has invested more than $11 billion in the company and is a nonvoting board observer. Current board members are Chair Bret Taylor, a former Salesforce co-CEO, former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, and Quora CEO Adam D’Angelo.
Recent Articles about OpenAI
Reese Witherspoon at last year's Cannes Lion ad festival. Photo by Marc Piasecki/Getty Images
The Briefing

Cannes Ad Festival Puts OpenAI’s Projections in Spotlight

By Martin Peers · Jun 21, 2026 3:01pm PDT
If you’ve wanted to visit the South of France, this might be the week. The annual Cannes Lion ad festival, a time for ad folks from all quarters to gather, gets underway tomorrow. The impact of AI on advertising and media is sure to be front and center. OpenAI’s chief revenue officer, Denise Dresser, is scheduled to appear onstage twice,... If you’ve wanted to visit the South of France, this might be the week. The annual Cannes Lion ad...
Sunday Insights

SpaceX’s 74-Day IPO Sets Pace for OpenAI, Anthropic

By Cory Weinberg · Jun 21, 2026 8:00am PDT · 2 comments
SpaceX’s strong first week of trading made one thing clear: Racing through its IPO at warp speed cost it nothing. The company went from initial confidential filing to listing in just 74 days, much faster than other tech IPOs in recent years, including those of CoreWeave, Figma and Airbnb, an analysis of securities filings shows. Initial public... SpaceX’s strong first week of trading made one thing clear: Racing through its IPO at warp speed...
Google CEO Sundar Pichai (left) and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella (right). Getty Images.
Applied AI

Google and Microsoft Team Up to Beat Back Anthropic and OpenAI

By Amir Efrati, Aaron Holmes and Catherine Perloff · Jun 18, 2026 10:30am PDT
When a group of tech companies announce an agreement to support an AI backend-software protocol, we don’t blame corporate IT executives for not paying attention. It sounds quite boring.But one such announcement on Wednesday from Google, Microsoft, Salesforce, Snowflake, ServiceNow and others is worth paying attention to. It demonstrates one way... When a group of tech companies announce an agreement to support an AI backend-software protocol,...
Noam Shazeer. Photo by Getty
Star Google AI Researcher Shazeer Joins OpenAI
By Erin Woo and Amir Efrati · Jun 17, 2026 5:09pm PDT · 4 comments
Noam Shazeer. Photo by Getty

Star Google AI Researcher Shazeer Joins OpenAI

By Erin Woo and Amir Efrati · Jun 17, 2026 5:09pm PDT · 4 comments
Noam Shazeer, the Google DeepMind researcher whose work underpinned the generative AI boom, is joining OpenAI, the AI firm told staff on Wednesday. Shazeer left Google in 2021 to co-found a chatbot startup Character.AI, but rejoined Google’s AI team DeepMind in 2024 as part of a $2.7 billion deal with his AI startup. He then became a tech lead... Noam Shazeer, the Google DeepMind researcher whose work underpinned the generative AI boom, is...
Left: Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff. Right: Denise Dresser, OpenAI’s Chief Revenue Officer. Getty Images/Shutterstock.

OpenAI and Anthropic Tap Salesforce Talent

By Kevin McLaughlin and Laura Bratton · Jun 17, 2026 6:01am PDT
As OpenAI and Anthropic build up their teams of enterprise salespeople, they’ve both been hiring from one of the deepest pools of enterprise software talent anywhere: Salesforce. More than 45 Salesforce employees have joined Anthropic since the start of this year, and close to 40 have joined OpenAI, largely in sales and marketing roles,... As OpenAI and Anthropic build up their teams of enterprise salespeople, they’ve both been hiring...
Images by Getty Images.
Exclusive

OpenAI Burned $3.7 Billion in First Three Months of 2026

By Erin Woo · Jun 16, 2026 4:26pm PDT · 7 comments
OpenAI burned through $3.7 billion in the first quarter, more than half its $5.7 billion in revenue, according to documents the company shared with shareholders. Both cash burn and revenue tripled from the same period the previous year, signaling how even with strong AI demand, making money from AI continues to be challenging. The company ended... OpenAI burned through $3.7 billion in the first quarter, more than half its $5.7 billion in...
From left, Sam Altman, Dario Amodei and Howard Lutnick. Photos via Getty Images; art by Mike Sullivan
Exclusive

Anthropic Ban Stirs Concerns at OpenAI and Beyond of Crackdown on Foreign AI Talent

By Leo Schwartz, Stephanie Palazzolo and Erin Woo · Jun 16, 2026 2:07pm PDT · 1 comment
The U.S. government’s latest battle with Anthropic has revived long-simmering concerns throughout the AI industry that the White House has placed a bullseye on their reliance on foreign AI talent. The Trump administration appears to have targeted only Anthropic so far, warning the company on Friday in a letter from Commerce Secretary Howard... The U.S. government’s latest battle with Anthropic has revived long-simmering concerns throughout...
OpenAI, Anthropic Employees Have Already Cashed Out About $14 Billion
By Julia Hornstein · Jun 14, 2026 8:00am PDT · 2 comments
Sunday Insights

OpenAI, Anthropic Employees Have Already Cashed Out About $14 Billion

By Julia Hornstein · Jun 14, 2026 8:00am PDT · 2 comments
Anthropic and OpenAI have some pressing reasons to go public. But they have already relieved some of the pressure that typically pushes companies toward initial public offerings: employees anxious to cash out their equity. The two AI model companies have allowed early employees and investors to sell a combined $14 billion in shares over the last... Anthropic and OpenAI have some pressing reasons to go public. But they have already relieved some...
From left to right: Jensen Huang, Sam Altman and Masayoshi Son. Photos via Getty Images.
Exclusive

OpenAI in Talks to Lease 10 Gigawatt Ohio Data Center with Backing From Nvidia

By Anissa Gardizy · Jun 9, 2026 7:07pm PDT · 2 comments
OpenAI is in advanced negotiations to lease a proposed 10 gigawatt data center campus on federal land in Ohio as part of a deal that could include financial backing from Nvidia, according to two people with direct knowledge of the discussions. The campus under discussion would be among the biggest of its kind, with a total cost of at least $500... OpenAI is in advanced negotiations to lease a proposed 10 gigawatt data center campus on federal...
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images.
The Briefing

What’s Behind OpenAI’s Hedged IPO Bet

By Martin Peers · Jun 9, 2026 5:00pm PDT
Can OpenAI do anything simply? Many companies, when publicly acknowledging the possibility of an IPO, emphasize that the final decision will depend in part on “market conditions.” That’s what OpenAI’s rival Anthropic did last week. But the ChatGPT firm chose to be more cryptic. Revealing its confidential IPO filing on Monday, OpenAI said it... Can OpenAI do anything simply? Many companies, when publicly acknowledging the possibility of an...
The Briefing Newsletter
Get smarter about the most important stories in tech, media and finance by following Silicon Valley’s most-read executive newsletter.
By providing your email, you agree to The Information’s Privacy Policy

Anthropic, OpenAI Stoke Brisk Pace of VC Fundraising

By Julia Hornstein · Jun 9, 2026 6:01am PDT · 1 comment
When Founders Fund earlier this year set out to raise its latest fund, a $6 billion vehicle to back mature startups like Anduril, it was the first time in the firm’s two-decade history it had asked its limited partners for more cash within two years of its prior fundraise. The reason: It had already blown through the $4.6 billion fund it raised... When Founders Fund earlier this year set out to raise its latest fund, a $6 billion vehicle to...
Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of software engineering, at WWDC 2026. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images.
Apple’s Cautious AI Overhaul; OpenAI’s IPO Filing
By Martin Peers · Jun 8, 2026 5:01pm PDT
Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of software engineering, at WWDC 2026. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images.
The Briefing

Apple’s Cautious AI Overhaul; OpenAI’s IPO Filing

By Martin Peers · Jun 8, 2026 5:01pm PDT
OpenAI on Monday had good news and bad news for the media corps that avidly follows its every twist and turn. The good news is that it filed confidentially to go public, a week after Anthropic did the same thing. (Yippee!) The bad news: OpenAI said it has “not decided on timing yet” and “it may be a while because there are things we want to do... OpenAI on Monday had good news and bad news for the media corps that avidly follows its every...
Gas turbines next to Oracle and OpenAI's Stargate AI data center in Abilene, Texas. Kyle Grillot/Bloomberg via Getty Images
AI Infrastructure

Developers of OpenAI’s Stargate Data Center Face Higher Costs

By Ann Davis Vaughan · Jun 8, 2026 8:00am PDT
On a dusty stretch of prairie in Abilene, Texas, anxious hardware engineers from Crusoe, a data center developer for OpenAI and Oracle, have been working overtime to get natural gas turbines to work harmoniously with one of the most expensive AI supercomputers in history.It has proven harder and more costly than expected, according to two people... On a dusty stretch of prairie in Abilene, Texas, anxious hardware engineers from Crusoe, a data...
Getty Images.
Sunday Insights

In Anthropic vs. OpenAI Race to IPO, First Doesn’t Necessarily Mean Best

By Valida Pau · Jun 7, 2026 8:00am PDT · 1 comment
Anthropic’s filing of its initial public offering paperwork last week means the maker of Claude Code has pulled slightly ahead of OpenAI as the two go head-to-head with their planned IPOs. While bankers and lawyers say there are good reasons for a company to beat its rival to the public markets, especially if it fears its rival’s offering will... Anthropic’s filing of its initial public offering paperwork last week means the maker of Claude...