Who profits from AI? Not OpenAI, says think tank

"To answer question one, researchers created a case study they called the GPT-5 bundle, which they said included all of OpenAI's offerings available during GPT-5's lifetime as the flagship model, including GPT-5 and GPT-5.1, GPT-4o, ChatGPT, and the API, and estimated the revenue from and costs of running the bundle. All numbers gathered were based on sources of information that included claims by OpenAI and its staff, and reporting by media outlets, primarily The Information, CNBC, and the Wall Street Journal."

"The revenue estimate, they said, "is relatively straightforward". Since the bundle included all of OpenAI's models, it was the company's total revenue over GPT-5's lifetime from August to December last year: $6.1 billion. And, they pointed out, "at first glance, $6.1 billion sounds healthy, until you juxtapose it with the costs of running the GPT-5 bundle.""

""despite making money on each model, companies can lose money each year.""

Any revenue surplus from one AI model can be outweighed by the expense of developing the next model, producing annual net losses despite model-level profits. A GPT-5 bundle scenario that includes GPT-5, GPT-5.1, GPT-4o, ChatGPT, and the API generated an estimated $6.1 billion in revenue from August to December. Estimated inference compute costs for that period were about $3.2 billion. Total running costs are attributed to four main sources, and the numerical estimates draw on OpenAI claims and reporting from outlets such as The Information, CNBC, and the Wall Street Journal.

Read at Computerworld