OpenAI's Chief Financial Officer, Sarah Friar, recently discussed the company's revenue model, highlighting that a significant portion stems from consumer subscriptions. Approximately 75% of OpenAI's business is derived from individuals subscribing to its products, such as ChatGPT, with subscription costs starting at $20 per month. Friar expressed amazement at the rapid development of the company, particularly on the consumer front, despite the young enterprise business generating impressive annualized revenue.
With 250 million active weekly users, OpenAI is converting free users to paid customers at a rate of 5% to 6%. Concurrently, OpenAI is striving to increase revenue by attracting more enterprise users. As of September, the enterprise version of ChatGPT has reached 1 million paid users, up from 600,000 in April, indicating strong demand from businesses.
A year ago, OpenAI introduced the enterprise version of ChatGPT with additional features and privacy protections to boost revenue and offset high R&D costs. Despite significant growth in paid enterprise users, it remains unclear how many new businesses have registered. Nearly half of these users are located in the United States.
Amidst revenue growth, OpenAI faces substantial expenses in developing advanced AI systems. The company recently completed a $6.6 billion funding round and applied for a $4 billion revolving credit facility. Friar emphasized the importance of staying at the forefront of AI technology to ultimately benefit humanity with Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), which rivals or exceeds human capabilities in various intellectual tasks.
As part of this goal, OpenAI is building a global alliance to support investments in the necessary physical infrastructure for AI. This includes advocating for an unprecedented data center in the U.S., capable of generating up to 5 gigawatts of power. Friar noted that infrastructure plays a crucial role in determining the success of the field.
