A couple of weeks ago, The Wall Street Journal reported that Microsoft was going to invest even more money in its generative AI partner OpenAI. Today, Bloomberg is reporting, via unnamed sources, that OpenAI is currently seeking $6.5 billion from investors for a current valuation of a staggering $150 billion. The report says that the new valuation does not include the money OpenAI is currently trying to raise.
According to the story, Thrive Capital will be the lead investor in this new fundraising stage, and Microsoft is also supposed to be putting in an unknown amount of funds as well. The story also repeats other unconfirmed reports that Apple and Nvidia could also put in a share of the money that OpenAI is seeking in this funding round.
Bloomberg"s story adds that OpenAI is in discussions to raise $5 billion in debt from banks so it could have a revolving credit facility. Keep in mind none of these numbers have been confirmed by OpenAI, and today"s report says the specific funding amounts could change.
OpenAI"s ChatGPT continues to be one of the biggest forces in generative AI technology. In late August, the company revealed that the generative AI chatbot had 200 million weekly users, compared a year ago when it had 100 million weekly users.
After launching its latest AI model, ChatGPT-4o, back in May, there are new but unconfirmed reports that OpenAI could launch its next model in the near future. This new AI model, which allegedly has the internal code name "Strawberry," could launch later this month, according to The Information. That same report claims that the new model will offer better responses for solving math equations, along with better coding solutions and creating new marketing strategies. It may also only be available as a paid model, rather than available for free like previous versions of ChatGPT.