OpenAI is in talks to complete a deal that would value the company at $100 billion or more, which would be about a $20 billion increase from its valuation eight months ago, according to two people with knowledge of the discussions.

The funding round would be led by Thrive Capital, which would put about $1 billion into the San Francisco company, said the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. The deal could also include funding from Microsoft.

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OpenAI Launched AI Boom in 2022

OpenAI launched the AI boom in late 2022 with the release of online chatbot ChatGPT, spurring a surge in funding for AI companies. But enthusiasm among investors has cooled in recent months, as several high-profile startups have essentially been folded into tech giants such as Google and Amazon.

Still, OpenAI remains a leader in the race to artificial intelligence. It is among a handful of companies with a blend of experienced researchers and large amounts of money that can work with resource-intensive AI systems.

Since it released ChatGPT, OpenAI has built increasingly powerful technologies, including versions of its chatbot that can generate images and humanlike speech.

In early 2023, Microsoft invested $10 billion in OpenAI, bringing its total investment in the company to $13 billion. A year later, Thrive led a deal that valued the company at more than $80 billion. With that deal, OpenAI did not issue new shares. It allowed the company’s employees to sell their existing shares.

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The new investment, which was reported earlier by Bloomberg News and The Wall Street Journal, would allow other existing shareholders to sell their shares.

OpenAI declined to comment.

(The New York Times sued OpenAI and Microsoft in December for copyright infringement of news content related to AI systems.)

The new investment talks follow a year of rapid growth and turmoil for the San Francisco startup. In November, four OpenAI board members fired Sam Altman, the company’s CEO, and said they no longer trusted him to lead the creation of safe AI technology.

Altman was reinstated five days later. Since then, the board has expanded along with the company’s workforce.

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This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

By Michael J. de la Merced and Cade Metz/Jason henry
c. 2024 The New York Times Company