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OpenAI closes $300 million funding round at $27 billion-$29 billion valuation

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Ankita

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It was reported on Friday, OpenAI the startup behind one of the top-rated AI chatbots ChatGPT, has shut down a $300 million funding round at a valuation of $27 billion to $29 billion. Earlier this year, Microsoft had announced an investment with OpenAI which according to media reports is worth $10 billion. 

OpenAI closes $300 million funding round at $27 billion-$29 billion valuation

Key Points: 

  • OpenAI has closed over $300 million share sale at a $27 billion to $29 billion valuation. 
  • Some of the venture capital funds that have picked up new shares are Tiger Global, Sequoia Capital, K2 Global, and more. 

OpenAI shuts a $300 million funding round at a valuation of $27 billion to $29 billion

On 28 April, OpenAI, the creator of AI-powered chatbot ChatGPT, closed over $300 million share sale at a valuation between $27 billion and $29 billion, as per a report. The venture capital funds include Tiger Global, Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital, Thrive, and K2 Global who have picked up the new shares reported by TechCrunch.

Earlier this year, Microsoft announced a major investment in OpenAI. Although both companies didn’t disclose a particular amount of the investment, various media reports claimed the investment between both companies was worth $10 billion. Microsoft seems to aggressively go ahead in artifitial inteliggence. They recently launched Microsoft Designers that helps in creating Instagram post easily. 

Generative AI tools such as ChatGPT used vast pools of online information from digital books, articles, blogs, and other media to generate text, images, and other content based on the user’s input. ChatGPT has created a major buzz in the tech industry ever since it was first released by OpenAI in November 2022. 

The startup was first founded in 2015 by a group of entrepreneurs and Artificial Intelligence researchers including Sam Altman who is currently the CEO of OpenAI and former president of Y Combinator, Ilya Sutskever, a major researcher for a decade, and Elon Musk, who is currently the CEO of Twitter and Tesla. The research lab was founded by all of them combined as a non-profit organization. However, Elon Musk decided to leave the venture in 2018 to focus more on his other businesses. While Sam Altman transformed OpenAI into a for-profit organization in order to raise the money needed for its research. 

The release of OpenAI’s GPT-4 

Last month, OpenAI launched its latest and most advanced language model, GPT-4. It is considered the most powerful version of OpenAI’s chatbot ChatGPT. CRO of OpenAI stated that GPT-4 is the most aligned and capable model to have ever been launched by the company. 

Shortly after GPT-4 was launched, several AI experts and researchers began to express their concerns about AI development and the profound risks to humanity and society. They issued a request to place an urgent pause of about six months on the research. 

An open letter was published with signs of various AI researchers and experts including Elon Musk. The letter was officially published on the Musk-funded Future of Life Institute website, requesting a six-month pause on the development of systems and AI tools that are more powerful than OpenAI’s language model, GPT-4. 

Apart from researchers, various other civil society groups worldwide have also raised concerns regarding it and flagged such pressed lawmakers to regulate the development of AI. 

The release of ChatGPT has resulted in various tech giants creating their own version of AI-powered chatbots such as Bing, Bard AI, and more. Also, companies have integrated generative AI models into their own products to enhance user experiences. 

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