Added that the investment in Microsoft was completed in January. The VC funding reported here is part of and separate from the tender offer.
Open AIThe startup behind the widely used conversational AI model ChatGPT has gained a new backer, TechCrunch has confirmed.
VC firms including Tiger Global, Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Thrive and K2 Global have acquired new stakes, according to documents seen by TechCrunch. A source said the Founders Fund is also investing. All in all, VCs put in just over $300 million at a valuation of $27 billion to $29 billion.This is separate from a big investment from Microsoft announced earlier this yeara person familiar with the development told TechCrunch, which closed in January.Microsoft’s investment is believed to be around $10 billion, a figure confirmed by sources.
If all this is accurate, this is the closing of the Wall Street Journal tender offer. report It was under construction in January. Amidst the viral explosion of interest in OpenAI and its business, we confirmed that it was then that the discussion began.
We have reached out to the investors listed here and OpenAI for comment and will update this story as we learn more. OpenAI declined to comment on a tender offer separate from his Microsoft investment, which closed in January.
While Microsoft’s investment comes with a strong strategic angle, the tech giant is working to integrate OpenAI’s technology into many areas of business, while VCs are on board as financial backers. increase.
From what we understand, the term sheet has been signed by the investor and the funds have been transferred. Countersigning from OpenAI is yet to come. The plan was to make this investment public next week.
Overall, outside investors now own more than 30% of OpenAI, the sources said.
According to PitchBook data, Peter Thiel was already a backer, but this is the first time the Founders Fund has invested. K2 Global is a company with only one partner. Uncle Amanat, and Thrive are also first-time backers of the startup. PitchBook data suggests Sequoia, A16Z and Tiger Global have previously invested in the company.
several companies, including tiger and sequoia, has taken some hits as a result of the financial crisis that the tech sector saw last year. In general, many VCs have significantly slowed their investment pace, sitting on so-called ‘dry powder’ waiting for a better environment and perhaps better opportunities.
the investor Looking for interesting AI startups to backOpenAI may be viewed as a promising opportunity for now.
“They are probably going to use this [funding] Hey look, we’ve found the golden apple,” a source said of the decision to help OpenAI here and now. You can go from tycoon to bankrupt and back to tycoon.”
OpenAI has many technical teams working in different areas, but one area that has received a lot of attention lately is GPT (short for Generative Pre-trained Transformer). API way.
There is also ChatGPT, a generative AI service released under GPT by OpenAI at the end of November 2022. This allows anyone to type natural questions and get compelling, detailed answers. ChatGPT recorded his over 1 billion visitors to his website in February, a certifiable hit. similar web —and does not include anyone using that technology through a third party.
Generative AI is all the rage right now, but OpenAI has controversy, and many have turned their attention to the much-talked-about ChatGPT product for consumers.people think it lie,that is”virushow it handles privacyif you can poisonagain to defameand, in the wake of more and more people rushing into AI development, even the essence of the method became “OpenAn argument arose that OpenAI’s GPT branding would be long-term.
To be fair, OpenAI is aware of the work that still needs to be done, while continuing to develop and iterate on the service. February, Startup Paid version introduced of ChatGPT called ChatGPT Plus with faster user experience.it was Upgrade with Multimodal LLM GPT-4 March.
The key to the proposal, OpenAI evaluation, and potential investor interest is that along with the technology, there is also a rapidly developing ecosystem around that technology.
In addition to the hundreds of millions of people playing with ChatGPT, hundreds of companies large and small have started implementing GPT and ChatGPT into their products and services. It has also inspired other big tech companies to accelerate the rollout of their generative AI efforts.launched by google Bard and meta also introduced llama Challenge GPT with your own LLM.
However, OpenAI’s focus on the AI space since its inception in 2015 has an undeniable weight in the competition. shift From the original non-commercial model.we don’t TRUE We know if AI will bring about a seismic shift, as many say, but OpenAI may be the closest thing to a winner in the space right now, as some say.
As co-founder and CEO Sam Altman said at the AI conference earlier this month: “We have always [building] company for 7 years. These things take a very long time. In terms of why it worked when others didn’t, by and large it’s because we’ve been sweating every detail for so long. I don’t want to “
In addition to ChatGPT, OpenAI has an AI-based image generation tool called Dall-E, I received an important update in July last year. Whisper AI voice recognition model is also installed.
Microsoft’s efforts include integrating OpenAI’s API with Azure infrastructure to support the computational requirements of models.Also in March announced GPT-4 integration to power Bing. This is part of Microsoft’s long-standing effort to curb the dominance of Google’s search services.
