OpenAI pulled in $4.3 billion in sales in the first half of 2025, The Information reports. That’s up 16 percent from the same time last year — but high running costs mean it burnt through $2.5 billion. Big bills loom, too, with the company expecting to burn $115 billion by 2030.
[theinformation.com]
Users of OpenAI’s chatbot can now buy that last-minute birthday gift for a friend via Etsy without leaving ChatGPT. Instant Checkouts powered by OpenAI’s new “Agentic commerce protocol” are free for users, but merchants need to pay a fee (of unspecified amount, per the WSJ) to complete the order.
A new Agent Mode comes to Office apps today, alongside an Office Agent in Copilot chat.
The California governor, who is already angling for a presidential run, has a stack of AI regulation bills he can veto before October 12th. Newsom has a slew of tech donors — and may want more tech money for a presidential run. OpenAI is also staffed up with Newsom-affiliated operators. So will Newsom sign the bills?
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[Blood in the Machine]
Current AI spending means the industry needs $2 trillion in annual revenue by 2030, according to estimates from Bain & Co. That’s “more than five times the size of the entire global subscription software market,” write Eliot Brown and Robbie Whelan. But there’s a plan: 1. Build data centers. 2. ???? 3. Profit. Anyway, I’ve been wondering about this for a while now.
AI firms are now working with weapons makers and the military. Safety expert Heidy Khlaaf breaks down what that means.
including that the company is looking for a leader to help bring ads to ChatGPT. I also saw an internal memo from Sam Altman talking about the importance of Stargate. In it, he writes: “We’ve already invested hundreds of billions of dollars, and doing this right will cost trillions.”
[Sources]
OpenAI said in a blog post that it would “put Stargate ahead of schedule to secure full $500 billion, 10-gigawatt commitment by end of 2025.” The news comes one day after the company announced a strategic partnership with Nvidia, which will invest up to $100 billion in OpenAI as it builds and deploys “at least 10 gigawatts of AI datacenters with NVIDIA systems.”
OpenAI chief Sam Altman teased a bevy of pricey, energy-intensive new features on the horizon. So costly, in fact, that only those signed on to ChatGPT’s $200-a-month Pro plan will be able to use them and even then they may have to pay an extra fee. Altman assures us they’re working to bring the costs down ASAP.
