Published , by Sam Chandler
Published , by Sam Chandler
OpenAI has finished another round of funding where it secured an additional $6.6 billion. This sees the company now valued at $157 billion, a significant increase from its $80 billion value at the start of the year.
OpenAI managed to raise $6.6 billion in funding at a $157 billion post-money valuation, the company announced in a blog post on October 2, 2024. Both of these figures beat the expected numbers that were being discussed at the beginning of September. Reports estimated the company would raise $6.5 billion and see OpenAI valued at $150 billion.
CNBC was able to confirm that the round of funding was led by Thrive Capital and included Microsoft, NVIDIA, SoftBank, and others. Of the funds raised, CNBC reported that Thrive Capital had planned to invest $1 billion.
“The new funding will allow us to double down on our leadership in frontier AI research, increase compute capacity, and continue building tools that help people solve hard problems,” reads the statement from OpenAI. The post closes by stating the company plans to make AI more widely accessible and will continue to collaborate with key partners including the U.S. government.
Artificial intelligence has often found itself in tricky positions in regards to safety and copyright. President Biden signed an executive order for new AI safety standards, but that hasn’t stopped the likes of hacking groups using AI products. Microsoft found state-backed hacking groups made use of OpenAI and took steps to ban said groups.
On the copyright front, OpenAI insisted it can’t sufficiently train AI models without copyrighted material. There has been continued pushback from companies to protect their own work against AI companies, including Conde Nast that ordered a cease and desist again Perplexity.
While some companies continue to invest in artificial intelligence, there seem to be others that want nothing to do with the technology. Keep an eye on our artificial intelligence page for more information regarding rounds of funding, how these AI startups are performing, and what resistance remains.