OpenAI Inc.the startup behind artificial intelligence-based chatbot tool ChatGPT, is the subject of an investor takeover bid that could see its valuation soar as high as $29 billion.
A report from the the wall street journal Today, venture capital firms Founders Fund and Thrive Capital are in talks to invest in the scorching startup as part of a deal that would see them buy shares from existing OpenAI shareholders, such as its employees. If the deal goes ahead, it would more than double OpenAI’s previous valuation of $14 billion, established following its last takeover bid in 2021.
OpenAI recently captured the public imagination with the launch of its ChatGPT viral chatbot tool at the end of last year. The chatbot can give intelligent and human answers to almost any type of question, even the most complex ones such as “describe a debate between two students on the value of education”.
A few days after its launch on November 11. By January 30, ChatGPT had amassed over a million users, according to a tweet from chief executive Sam Altman (pictured). Industry watchers have claimed that ChatGPT is such a big technological breakthrough that it could rival for a day Google LLC as an alternative to Google Search, although Altman has previously admitted that it still suffers from problems.
OpenAI is also behind DALL-E, an AI-powered image generation tool that has demonstrates an artistic flair on a human scalecreating amazing images based on people’s text descriptions.
The startup was founded as a non-profit organization in 2015, with a mission to pursue AI research for the benefit of humanity. In order to raise more capital to pay for the computing power needed to train its algorithms, OpenAI created a for-profit arm in 2019.
Its original backers included Tesla Inc. CEO Elon Musk, LinkedIn. Corp. co-founder Reid Hoffman, as well as Altman, who was previously chairman of prominent venture capital firm Y Combinator. However, most funds raised by OpenAI since then come from Microsoft Corp.a company with which it is closely associated.
Analyst Rob Enderle told SiliconANGLE that ChatGPT is now considered the cutting edge technology in terms of conversational AI and that Microsoft plans to leverage it heavily in future products, including its Bing search engine.
“ChatGPT is well on its way to revolutionizing the way we interact with computers, especially Internet search,” Enderle said. This renewed and increased valuation reflects Microsoft’s interest and also shows how visible this technology has suddenly become. It has become highly sought after by investors and could be an even bigger game changer for human/computer interaction in the future. What’s exciting is that while the $29 billion target seems extreme, given its prior valuation of less than half, the number may actually be a conservative estimate given the massive interest in its technology.
OpenAI says its ultimate goal is for its technology to achieve what researchers call “artificial general intelligence,” which is a state where AI can fully mirror the intelligence, creativity, and thinking of humans. Altman, in a December interview with the Journal, said OpenAI’s tools have the potential to have a transformative effect on society similar to that of the smartphone. He believes AI can be used to find solutions to some of the biggest challenges facing the scientific community today.
In the meantime, however, OpenAI clearly needs more money if it wants to get there. The company claims to generate “tens of millions of dollars” in revenue and believes it is on track to hit $1 billion in annual revenue by 2024, Reuters reported Previously. However, Altman also said OpenAI intends to avoid going public or being acquired.
“ChatGPT has really opened our eyes to advances in AI,” said Holger Mueller of Constellation Research Inc. “We’ve reached a point where it’s no longer clear whether a human or an AI did the work. It is therefore not surprising that this has attracted the attention of investors who want to intervene early. OpenAI is a tricky case though, as it doesn’t want to go public, so a takeover bid is the most viable way for investors to jump on the ChatGPT AI bandwagon early.
The tender offer is necessary because OpenAI investors can only exit the company through secondary stock sales. However, OpenAI investors had better not sell. According to the Journal, investors in the company are limited to profits of around 20 times their initial investment, although they can earn greater returns the longer they wait before selling their shares.
0 Comments