Key facts
- OpenAI is developing specialized AI systems for industries like chip design, life sciences, and financial services.
- The company is experimenting with outcome-based pricing for its AI services to demonstrate ROI.
- OpenAI's CFO, Sarah Friar, highlighted cost advantages of its models over open-source alternatives.
- OpenAI's Jalapeno chip design was completed in nine months using the company's own AI models.
- The company recently reduced the price of its Luna model by 80%, leading to a tenfold increase in usage.
- OpenAI's enterprise revenue grew 32% from June to July, contributing to an even split with consumer businesses.
- The company's advertising business is generating $1 billion in annualized revenue.
OpenAI is aggressively expanding its enterprise offerings and challenging open-source rivals on cost, according to Chief Financial Officer Sarah Friar. Speaking at Goldman Sachs' Communacopia + Technology Conference, Friar detailed the company's focus on specialized AI applications in sectors such as chip design, life sciences, and financial services, while also experimenting with outcome-based pricing to meet enterprise demand for measurable returns.
Friar highlighted OpenAI's internal success in developing its Jalapeno chip, which was finalized for production in just nine months using the company's own AI models. She also noted that OpenAI recently slashed the price of its lower-cost Luna model by 80%, resulting in a tenfold increase in its usage. The company's Codex coding tool has garnered 25 million users.
OpenAI's enterprise revenue saw a 32% increase from June to July, contributing to an even split between enterprise and consumer business revenue by mid-year, ahead of schedule. Friar asserted that deploying OpenAI's Luna model can be more cost-effective than using Chinese open-source alternatives on cloud platforms.
Furthermore, Friar discussed OpenAI's advertising potential, envisioning ChatGPT ads as a combination of Google's search intent and Meta's social media context. The company's ad business is already generating revenue at an annualized rate of $1 billion, with plans to introduce more sophisticated, AI-native ad formats.