this post was submitted on 10 Feb 2024
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OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is in talks with investors, including from the United Arab Emirates, to raise between $5 trillion to $7 trillion in funding. The goal, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal, is to increase the world's chip manufacturing capacity and enhance AI capabilities.

The fundraising efforts are part of a broader strategy to address OpenAI's growth constraints, particularly the scarcity of AI chips needed for training large language models like ChatGPT.

Altman's proposal is said to include forming a partnership with investors, chip manufacturers, and power providers to finance the construction of chip foundries, which would then be operated by the chip manufacturers.

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[–] remotelove@lemmy.ca 184 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (7 children)

That's fairly bold to ask for ~6% of the total world economy as well as a sizable chunk of the world's energy.

[–] essteeyou@lemmy.world 57 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I was about to ask for the other 94%...

[–] Tremble@sh.itjust.works 23 points 9 months ago (4 children)

.000000001 percent of that…. Please

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[–] herrcaptain@lemmy.ca 20 points 9 months ago

See now, they need to ask for more like 25% of the total world economy. That way what they actually want is gonna seem like a great deal.

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[–] EdibleFriend@lemmy.world 134 points 9 months ago (5 children)

The fundraising efforts are part of a broader strategy to address OpenAI’s growth constraints,

see...we just can't grow without TRILLIONS OF FUCKING DOLLARS

[–] RedditWanderer@lemmy.world 62 points 9 months ago (1 children)
[–] Nougat@kbin.social 27 points 9 months ago (2 children)

AM I BEING CONSTRAINED? OR AM I FREE TO GO?

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[–] bunnyfc@kbin.social 26 points 9 months ago (2 children)

i have a business case to become the major player in the chip industry: buy the planet's economy

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[–] los_chill@programming.dev 123 points 9 months ago (7 children)

Good thing the board folded and allowed this to be full for-profit. Getting people reliant on LLM subscriptions is super important for humanity right now.

Another L for Earth, in general.

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[–] whoelectroplateuntil@sh.itjust.works 112 points 9 months ago (8 children)

For perspective, global annual GDP is $105 trillion, which means Altman is asking the world to invest 6.7% or so of the entire world's economic output for one year in his company.

[–] keefshape@lemmy.ca 51 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (17 children)

Holy fucking bonkers when you put it that way. Like holy fuck.

Are they that close to something amazing, or is Altman going true Dr Evil megalomaniac?

[–] whoelectroplateuntil@sh.itjust.works 17 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (2 children)

It's both. Basically, if he's right that this is among the most important tech in world history and deserves $7 trillion in research, it'll make OpenAI the du jour monopolist over said most important tech in world history if he gets it. Outright dystopian.

[–] Telodzrum@lemmy.world 16 points 9 months ago (10 children)

Generative AI is not an important development. General AI would be. This is just a party trick.

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[–] sentient_loom@sh.itjust.works 75 points 9 months ago (5 children)

I also want to raise $5 - $7 trillion dollars.

[–] MajorHavoc@programming.dev 34 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Is this the line for $5 - $7 trillion dollars?

I'll only take 4 million, and pass the rest on. With inflation accounted for, I think that leaves the next person roughly $5 - $7 trillion.

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[–] doublejay1999@lemmy.world 21 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Have you tried gofundme.com

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[–] hark@lemmy.world 70 points 9 months ago (11 children)

I wonder if this will be one of the things pointed at after the AI bubble bursts. Yes, AI will be sticking around, but the hype over it now is ridiculous.

[–] jol@discuss.tchncs.de 37 points 9 months ago (1 children)

The way how every single digital product suddenly has AI shoved in it is really reminiscing of the Web bubble before it popped.

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[–] zoostation@lemmy.world 60 points 9 months ago (6 children)

Could that level of investment ever be recouped in any other manner than by replacing vast numbers of workers and their salaries?

[–] ikidd@lemmy.world 29 points 9 months ago

Well, see, if we grind down 8 billion people into a nourishing slurry with a shelf life of a century, that should be worth at least $1000 a person, with inflation. That's a 50% profit on your investment!

[–] RegalPotoo@lemmy.world 25 points 9 months ago

That's my question; presumably the people in charge of that much wealth aren't total fools and will be wanting to see some actual numbers and a business case as to how they will see a return, not just platitudes and enthusiasm.

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[–] BeatTakeshi@lemmy.world 58 points 9 months ago

Thank God there is trickle down economics. We will all benefit in the end... Right?

[–] BigMacHole@lemm.ee 49 points 9 months ago (10 children)

$7,000,000,000,000? It's a good thing we won't tax it ever at all in any capacity! Not while there's Single Mothers overdrawn on their Bank Accounts! #SaveTheTrillionaires!

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[–] Eggyhead@kbin.social 46 points 9 months ago (7 children)

Do they even think about where in a functioning society those trillions are coming from? Do they think wealth just magically appears without affecting the wealth gap?

[–] billiam0202@lemmy.world 31 points 9 months ago (3 children)

It'll come from the working class, like all wealth does.

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[–] GBU_28@lemm.ee 18 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (4 children)

Why would a corporation consider that? I understand capitalism isn't popular here, but still, the corporation SHOULDN'T be considering such issues, they should only attempt to further their own goals.

It's the role of government to align corporate goals with reality, or with societal values

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[–] ombremad@lemmy.blahaj.zone 45 points 9 months ago (12 children)

5-7 trillion and they’ll still end up stealing data from all over the internet.

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[–] doublejay1999@lemmy.world 42 points 9 months ago (1 children)

We will come to regret not jailing San Altman.

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[–] filister@lemmy.world 40 points 9 months ago (7 children)

Can someone ELI5 what's the open in the OpenAI's name at the moment?

I know they released Whisper as an open source model and that's about it, but I might be wrong.

[–] jj4211@lemmy.world 36 points 9 months ago

It used to be open, then money happened.

[–] JustARegularNerd@lemmy.world 24 points 9 months ago

Open for business

[–] knF@lemmy.world 21 points 9 months ago

Open your wallet /s

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[–] doctorcrimson@lemmy.today 36 points 9 months ago

I used to think they were unethical scammers.

Now I know for sure.

[–] BetaDoggo_@lemmy.world 32 points 9 months ago

Just a few more parameters, then the text prediction model will become sentient.

[–] A_Very_Big_Fan@lemmy.world 29 points 9 months ago (6 children)

I, too, would like 5-7 trillion dollars

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[–] xePBMg9@lemmynsfw.com 28 points 9 months ago (2 children)

Let's use that money to build an orbital ring instead. Would be cooler and more useful.

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[–] ohlaph@lemmy.world 28 points 9 months ago (2 children)

We could solve so many problems with that much money.

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[–] cyberpunk007@lemmy.ca 27 points 9 months ago
[–] bfg9k@lemmy.world 25 points 9 months ago (2 children)

You could build a huge, state-of-the-art orbital station for 1 trillion lol

why spend it on some software

[–] SomeGuy69@lemmy.world 17 points 9 months ago

It's necessary, to replace humans, fellow human.

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[–] Kushia@lemmy.ml 22 points 9 months ago

Motherfucker is going for the biggest heist of all time. What a colossal waste of money and resources.

[–] Aopen@discuss.tchncs.de 21 points 9 months ago

$2.92T is current Apple market cap btw

[–] GasMaskedLunatic@lemmy.dbzer0.com 19 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

This mother fucker REALLY wants the machine uprising ending.

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[–] comador@lemmy.world 18 points 9 months ago

What are we going to do tonight Pinky?

[–] moitoi@feddit.de 18 points 9 months ago (3 children)

I'm not pretending AI isn't useful. There is plenty of field where AI helps. But, AI has been the next scam after blockchain, crypto, NFT...

It's the end of our civilization with falling capitalism. But, capitalism will try to find new ways to make short term profits. We moved from fordism to post-fordism with the enslavement of the cognitive abilities. We entered the next era with all these scams. And entshitification is a symptom of this.

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[–] Nobody@lemmy.world 18 points 9 months ago (1 children)

It’s too bad the non-profit oversight board got killed by the for-profit subsidiary. OpenAI is dead on arrival as useful tech. It’s now a vehicle to deceive investors to raise VC cash.

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