Sam Altman turned OpenAI into a cultural phenomenon with ChatGPT. Now, three years later, he’s chasing where the real money is: Enterprise. CNBC reported.
Last week’s rollout of GPT-5, OpenAI’s newest artificial intelligence model, was rocky. Critics bashed its less-intuitive feel, ultimately leading the company to restore its legacy GPT-4 to paying chatbot customers.
But GPT-5 isn’t about the consumer. It’s OpenAI’s effort to crack the enterprise market, where rival Anthropic has enjoyed a head start.
One week in, and startups like Cursor, Vercel, and Factory say they’ve already made GPT-5 the default model in certain key products and tools, touting its faster setup, better results on complex tasks, and a lower price.
Behind the scenes, OpenAI has built out its own enterprise sales team — more than 500 people under COO Brad Lightcap — operating independently of Microsoft, which has been the startup’s lead investor and key cloud partner. Customers can access GPT models through Microsoft Azure or go directly to OpenAI, which controls the API and product experience.
The Register reported: Sam Altman admitted we’re in the midst of an AI bubble Thursday, but don’t let that fool you: He still intends to rule over whatever’s left after it bursts.
A bubble, the OpenAI CEO told a select group of reporters at a dinner Thursday night, is what happens when a bunch of smart people get too excited about something nonetheless contains a kernel of truth. By that definition, Altman said, we’re in the midst of a big ol’ ready-to-burst AI bubble.
“If you look at most of the bubbles in history, like the tech bubble, there was a real thing,” Altman said, according to a report from the Verge. “Tech was really important. The internet was a really big deal. People got overexcited.”
He continued, “Are we in a phase where investors as a whole are overexcited about AI? My opinion is yes. Is AI the most important thing to happen in a very long time? My opinion is also yes.”
In other words, the dot-com bust didn’t kill the internet as we know it, and many of the ideas pioneered during that era, such as e-commerce and search, engendered trillion-dollar companies. By that analogy, AI will probably survive the implosion of the uncountable number of startups who’ve hoped to grab a piece of the pie before it spoils.
TechInAsia reported: OpenAI GPT-5 adoption rises as Box and startups like Vercel and Factory report gains in performance, coding, and handling complex tasks.
The rollout faced criticism from some users, promoting OpenAI to restore GPT-4 access for paying chatbot subscribers.
Startups include Cursor, Vercel, and Factory have made GPT-5 their default model in some tools, citing faster setup and cheaper costs.
Both OpenAI and Anthropic are investing heavily to attract business clients with OpenAI reportedly on track to burn US $8 billion this year, while Anthropic’s enterprise revenue has also grown.