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Isn’t OpenAI profitable if they stop training right at this moment? Just because they’re immediately reinvesting all that cash doesn’t mean they’re not profitab

by Aeolun 2y ago

Isn’t OpenAI profitable if they stop training right at this moment? Just because they’re immediately reinvesting all that cash doesn’t mean they’re not profitable.

Attach6156 2y ago
And if they stop training right now their "moat" (which I think is only o1 as of today) would last a good 3 to 6 months lol, and then to the Wendy's it is.
- Aeolun 2y ago
  That is similarly true for all other AI companies. It’s why they don’t do that. But everyone is still happy to give them more money because their offering is good as it is.
- wyclif 2y ago
  >and then to the Wendy's it is I didn't really catch that pop culture reference. What does that mean?
  - slater 2y ago
    My guess: The competition catches up, you lose all paying clients, and you get to apply for jobs at Wendy's...?
    - wyclif 2y ago
      Or does it mean it's a trivial decision, as trivial as deciding what fast food joint to choose?
      - slater 2y ago
        Guess we'll never know :(
0xDEAFBEAD 2y ago
This guy claims they are losing billions of dollars on free ChatGPT users: https://nitter.poast.org/edzitron/status/1841529117533208936 https://nitter.poast.org/edzitron/status/1841529117533208936
- fragmede 2y ago
  Ed Zitron's analysis hinges on a lot of assumptions. Much of it comes down to the question of how much it actually costs to run a single inference of ChatGPT. That $20/month pro subscription could be a loss-leader or it could be making money, depending on the numbers you want to use. If you play with the numbers, and compare it to, say, $2/hr for an H100 currently on the front page, $20/$2/hr gets you 10 hours of GPU time before it costs more in hardware than your subscription, and then factoring in overhead on top, it's just not clear.
- Aeolun 2y ago
  You’d need to know how much they are using for that. I only use the API and the $20 I bought a year ago aren’t gone yet.

by Aeolun 2y ago

Isn’t OpenAI profitable if they stop training right at this moment? Just because they’re immediately reinvesting all that cash doesn’t mean they’re not profitable.

Attach6156 2y ago

And if they stop training right now their "moat" (which I think is only o1 as of today) would last a good 3 to 6 months lol, and then to the Wendy's it is.

Aeolun 2y ago
That is similarly true for all other AI companies. It’s why they don’t do that. But everyone is still happy to give them more money because their offering is good as it is.
wyclif 2y ago
>and then to the Wendy's it is I didn't really catch that pop culture reference. What does that mean?
- slater 2y ago
  My guess: The competition catches up, you lose all paying clients, and you get to apply for jobs at Wendy's...?
  - wyclif 2y ago
    Or does it mean it's a trivial decision, as trivial as deciding what fast food joint to choose?
    - slater 2y ago
      Guess we'll never know :(

0xDEAFBEAD 2y ago

This guy claims they are losing billions of dollars on free ChatGPT users: https://nitter.poast.org/edzitron/status/1841529117533208936 https://nitter.poast.org/edzitron/status/1841529117533208936

fragmede 2y ago
Ed Zitron's analysis hinges on a lot of assumptions. Much of it comes down to the question of how much it actually costs to run a single inference of ChatGPT. That $20/month pro subscription could be a loss-leader or it could be making money, depending on the numbers you want to use. If you play with the numbers, and compare it to, say, $2/hr for an H100 currently on the front page, $20/$2/hr gets you 10 hours of GPU time before it costs more in hardware than your subscription, and then factoring in overhead on top, it's just not clear.
Aeolun 2y ago
You’d need to know how much they are using for that. I only use the API and the $20 I bought a year ago aren’t gone yet.