OpenAI, the owner of ChatGPT, has ambitious plans to significantly increase its user base in 2025. The company aims to grow its current 250 million weekly users to 1 billion by next year, according to Sarah Friar, OpenAI’s Chief Financial Officer, in an interview with The Financial Times.
To achieve this, OpenAI plans to introduce new AI products and forge a partnership with Apple. This marks a new phase in OpenAI’s growth strategy, with a focus on developing AI agents and launching its own search engine.
A version of the search technology has already been incorporated within ChatGPT and is currently available to Plus and Team plan subscribers.
“(In 2025) we will be consolidating ourselves, as a research laboratory serving millions… hoping that could be billions of consumers around the world,” said Sarah Friar, the company’s chief financial officer, to the Financial Times.
OpenAI plans to launch chatbot-like products that will help users search for information and even assist in booking and purchasing items online. This move aims to make its AI tools more integrated into daily tasks, providing users with more practical applications for its technology.
Additionally, OpenAI is looking to expand its integration with Apple products as part of its strategy to acquire more users. By working more closely with Apple, OpenAI hopes to tap into the vast user base of Apple devices and enhance its presence in the tech ecosystem.
“Agent has to be the word of the year… It can be a researcher, a useful assistant for ordinary people, working mothers like me. By 2025, we will see the first very successful agents deployed that help people in their everyday lives” , said the group’s vice president of engineering, Srinivas Narayanan.
“Age of Intelligence”
In an interview with the American newspaper, OpenAI’s founder and CEO, Sam Altman, revealed that the company is preparing for what he calls the “Age of Intelligence,” backed by over $6 billion (R$36 billion) in investment revenue. In October, OpenAI reached a valuation of $150 billion (R$900 billion), marking the highest valuation ever for a startup in Silicon Valley.
Over the past year, OpenAI has significantly expanded, quintupling its workforce to more than 2,000 employees and transitioning into a private company. Additionally, the company has plans for investment in new data centers in the Midwest and Southwest regions of the United States, aiming to further scale its operations.
