ChatGPT may be incredibly popular right now, but a new report found that its creator OpenAI could be headed for bankruptcy as early as 2024.
There’s no denying that ChatGPT and the subsequent generative AI platforms that came after it have transformed business as we know it. From improving productivity to spurring mass layoffs, the technology is poised to make a massive impact on world.
Still, not all revolutionary technology is profitable from the get-go, and OpenAI is going to have to find a way to make more money from ChatGPT if it wants to stay viable.
ChatGPT Is Losing Users Fast
If you aren’t growing, you’re dying. At least, that’s the general consensus in the tech industry, with firms like Meta and Google in a constant battle to add users and improve functionality of their platforms.
Unfortunately, one of the biggest problems that OpenAI is currently facing is the number of users taking advantage of ChatGPT. More specifically, the generative AI platform has been hemorrhaging daily active users. They’ve been on the decline since May, when the total number had reached an impressive 1.9 billion.
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Now, at only 1.5 billion, ChatGPT has lost 21% of users in just two months, and the numbers are not trending in the right direction.
ChatGPT Competitors on the Rise
So, why are users leaving ChatGPT? The report from Analytics India Magazine posits that the availability of the API has made it so users can access the large language model (LLM) that powers the platform without actually having to use the comparatively limited ChatGPT platform itself.
However, as is often the case in the tech world, a big problem is that ChatGPT competitors are popping up all over the place. Google Bard, Meta’s Llama 2, and Anthropic’s Claude AI have all rolled out with success, drawing their own users and cutting into the brief monopoly that OpenAI and ChatGPT enjoyed since November 2022.
While ChatGPT and its creator OpenAI have a lucrative partnership with Microsoft, which saw $10 billion in funding, that money is the only thing keeping the company in business, considering it costs $700,000 per day to keep the platform running.
Is ChatGPT Going Anywhere?
To be fair, the tech industry is filled with great ideas that aren’t profitable. The ride-sharing industry, for example, has been transforming the transportation industry for years, but its poster child Uber has only just become profitable this year.
Suffice to say, ChatGPT is a powerful, productivity-driving technology that clearly has a market for use. And with OpenAI backed by the likes of Microsoft, it’s safe to assume that the company isn’t going to declare bankruptcy any time soon.
Still, growth is important no matter who signs your checks, which means ChatGPT needs to turn it around in a big way if it wants to be the go-to option for generative AI technology.