ChatGPT maker OpenAI's next funding round is said to be around $6.5 billion and could close as early as the end of next week.
This is according to a new report from the Wall Street Journal, which also reveals that OpenAI's rumored transformation from a nonprofit organization to a for-profit company is now virtually certain. If OpenAI doesn't complete the transition within two years, investors in the new round will get their money back, according to WSJ.
The WSJ article paints a picture of a startup company that recently hit $4 billion in revenue but is still suffering billions of dollars in losses. And they suffer from internal conflict, a work culture prone to burnout, and technological lag. OpenAI reportedly rushed the debut of GPT-4o, OpenAI's recent flagship model, to distract attention from Google's annual I/O developer conference held in May. The company's researchers had only nine days to test the safety of GPT-4o.