this post was submitted on 26 Oct 2024
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[–] ddplf@szmer.info 1 points 15 hours ago (7 children)

Wait, since when it had not been? Or are you telling me that vastly the fastest growing platform in history with multiple payment gates (subscriptions, pay per token, licensing etc.) was not profitable for some reason?

[–] facow@hexbear.net 8 points 9 hours ago

Or are you telling me that vastly the fastest growing platform in history with multiple payment gates (subscriptions, pay per token, licensing etc.) was not profitable

Are you not aware that 99 times out of 100 if you see a tech company rapidly growing it's completely unprofitable and not even attempting to be profitable yet? It's called blitzscaling and is pretty clearly what openai is attempting. Like if you see a tech company quickly growing you should be assuming it's unprofitable until proven otherwise not the opposite lol.

[–] wizardbeard@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 9 hours ago

Estimates from earlier this year are that they spend $2.35 for every $1 they make.

[–] sp3tr4l@lemmy.zip 31 points 14 hours ago (2 children)

Not sure if you are joking but... it does not appear to be making anywhere near the amount of money that has been invested in it.

It costs a stupendous amount of money to develop the models, to train them, to rent out or just buy the hardware needed to do this, to pay for the electrical power to do this.

[–] ddplf@szmer.info 25 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

Not joking, I'm just underinformed

Now that I think of it, yeah, it makes absolute sense. It's not a stable income OpenAI is based on, but rather the endless wagons of money from hyped up sponsors. Very much unsustainable.

[–] Assman@sh.itjust.works 6 points 11 hours ago

the endless wagons of money from hyped up sponsors

For the record, that describes almost every big software company in the last 30 years.

[–] cygnus@lemmy.ca 9 points 14 hours ago* (last edited 14 hours ago) (1 children)

It isn't even close to making a profit. They are bleeding billions per year with no obvious path to breaking even, let alone profiting enough to justify their enormous valuation. It's very much a bubble and I look forward to the day it pops.

Edit: if you want a lengthy read on the subject https://www.wheresyoured.at/oai-business/

[–] Trainguyrom@reddthat.com 1 points 4 hours ago

To be fair, if I had an option to effectively invest in Google circa 2004 in 2024 I would toss some spare money at it, and that's basically what OpenAI is offering at this moment. They've established themselves, shown strong leadership and established strong relationships with major companies. They're a leader in a particular product segment and while they could falter and fail, there's enough momentum that they're more likely to be acquired than to actually fail, plus they're swimming in extremely uncharted waters so there's plenty of opportunities for them to both greatly improve ongoing operational efficiency and to create new products with new markets, much like where Google was in 2004

[–] umami_wasbi@lemmy.ml 18 points 14 hours ago* (last edited 7 hours ago)

Last time I heard, no. They are burning money to train new models.

[–] catloaf@lemm.ee 14 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

Running those datacenters is extremely expensive.

[–] Flocklesscrow@lemm.ee 18 points 13 hours ago* (last edited 13 hours ago) (2 children)

The cost is to the whole world, because they consume enormous amounts of energy and produce essentially nothing. Like bitcoin miners.

[–] Trainguyrom@reddthat.com 1 points 4 hours ago

AI at least provides a clear product that can be a helpful workforce multiplier, whereas Bitcoin provided an unprotected alternative to traditional markets with none of the safeguards nor legal precedents of traditional markets, so it's only led to illegal activities piled upon illegal activities

[–] TheDoctor@hexbear.net 15 points 12 hours ago

Worse than Bitcoin miners, AI seems to have the wholethroated support of capital (rather than a single faction), who see it as the next big form of automation

[–] winterayars@sh.itjust.works 10 points 14 hours ago

It's following the Amazon monopolization model.

[–] dan@upvote.au 3 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

They've never been profitable and current estimates say they won't be profitable until at least 2029: https://www.businessinsider.com/openai-profit-funding-ai-microsoft-chatgpt-revenue-2024-10

[–] selokichtli@lemmy.ml 1 points 6 hours ago

They should ask ChatGPT hoe to make OpenAI profitable. I'm sure the answer will make them take off.