Artificial intelligence startup OpenAI is in talks to raise a funding round that could value the company at more than $100 billion, CNBC reports.
Thrive Capital is leading the round and plans to invest $1 billion, said the people, who asked not to be identified as the details are confidential.
Earlier this year, OpenAI’s valuation was reported to have risen to $80 billion, up from $29 billion a year earlier. Annualized revenue reportedly surpassed $2 billion earlier this year. Growth began in the second half of 2022 when the company released its ChatGPT chatbot, and has continued with the rollout of enterprise products and expansion into AI-generated photos and videos.
The Wall Street Journal Be the first to report At the meeting MicrosoftOpenAI’s largest backer, Microsoft, also participated in the round. Microsoft declined to comment.
The news follows OpenAI’s announcement last week that it would release a prototype search engine. Search GPTaims to provide users with “fast, timely answers with clear, relevant sources.”
The company said the tool, which is currently being tested with a small number of users, will eventually be integrated into its ChatGPT chatbot.
The development could have implications for Google and its dominant search engine: Since ChatGPT’s launch, Alphabet investors have worried that OpenAI could take market share away from Google in search by giving consumers new ways to find information online.
With this prototype, OpenAI is testing ways to do just that, promising users a “more natural and intuitive way to search” and the opportunity to ask follow-up questions “just like in a conversation.”
“We think there’s room to make search even better than it is today,” OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said Thursday. post On social media site X.
An OpenAI spokesman declined to comment.
—CNBC’s Jordan Novett contributed to this report.
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