OpenAI CEO says ChatGPT growth tops 10% per month

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman told employees that ChatGPT is experiencing over 10% monthly growth, according to an internal Slack message viewed by CNBC.

The company plans to launch an updated ChatGPT model this week.

Despite over 800 million weekly users, OpenAI faces increasing competition from rivals like Google and Anthropic.

Altman also reported that OpenAI’s Codex product grew about 50% week-on-week after launching a new model, GPT-5.3-Codex, and a standalone app for Apple computers.

OpenAI is preparing to test ads within ChatGPT, which will be clearly labeled and at the bottom of responses, with revenue expected to be less than half of future income.

The company is in talks for a potential funding round nearing US$100 billion, with recent investments from SoftBank and discussions with Microsoft, Nvidia, and Amazon.

The round could be completed in two parts, but details remain uncertain.

🔗 Source: CNBC

🧠 Food for thought

Implications, context, and why it matters.

OpenAI’s revenue is soaring, but its costs are astronomical

OpenAI revenue climbed to a $12 billion annual pace in July 2025, up from about $3.4 billion in annual recurring revenue (ARR) in June 2024 1, 2.
SaaStr (a software-as-a-service industry publication) estimates 55% to 60% of that revenue comes from consumer subscriptions such as ChatGPT 1.
OpenAI still loses money. One analysis puts operating margin at negative 11% for a bundle of OpenAI offerings when GPT-5 was the flagship model 3.
New model work drains cash. One analysis estimates about $5 billion in R&D (research and development) spending in the four months before GPT-5’s release, which helps explain plans to raise up to $100 billion though terms and structure remain uncertain 3, 4.

The AI arms race is creating a capital-fueled oligopoly

University of Florida finance professor Jay Ritter says a push to raise up to $100 billion suggests AI leadership may need more capital than even record IPOs such as Saudi Aramco’s 5.
SF Examiner reporting says potential investors include Nvidia, Amazon, and Microsoft. They also supply OpenAI with chips or cloud computing 5.
A Stanford GSB (Graduate School of Business) lecturer in management, quoted by the SF Examiner, describes a loop where those firms can earn investment dollars back by selling hardware or cloud services to OpenAI 5.
That setup can raise the entry cost for new challengers, including well-funded AI model developers, leaving progress concentrated among a few incumbents plus their strategic backers 5.