Greetings,

It has been a relentless week of OpenAI news, and if there was any doubt about Sam Altman's intentions to turn the company into an all-encompassing tech titan, the latest reporting from our team should put that to rest. We are seeing the company move simultaneously on five different fronts—from a massive IPO preparation to a high-stakes pivot in how it handles e-commerce.

The sheer scale of the ambition is staggering. OpenAI is now generating $25 billion in annualized revenue, yet it is still projecting a cash burn of $665 billion in server costs through the end of the decade. The company isn't just building smarter models like the upcoming GPT-5.4; it is exploring an advertising business through early talks with The Trade Desk and picking legal heavyweights to lead a potential IPO as soon as this year.

Why it caught my eye:

• The IPO Engine Starts: OpenAI has tapped law firms Cooley and Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz to prepare for a public listing that could value the company at $730 billion.
• The Revenue Arms Race: While OpenAI's revenue grew 17% recently, Anthropic is narrowing the gap, with its annualized revenue tripling since the end of last year to $19 billion.
• A "Reasoning" Gamble: The upcoming GPT-5.4 will feature an "extreme" reasoning mode and a 1 million token context window, aiming to win over researchers even as the company trails its 1 billion weekly active user goal.
• The Commerce Pivot: In a strategic shift, OpenAI is scaling back its "Instant Checkout" feature inside ChatGPT, moving instead toward a model where purchases happen inside specific apps like Instacart or Target.

This week's coverage paints a picture of a company trying to mature at light speed while facing a surging Anthropic and a looming Google. It's a crucial moment for the pioneer of the AI boom as it prepares to go from a startup to a public giant.

You won't want to miss the full details on how these moves are reshaping the AI landscape.

Best,

Jessica Lessin
Founder & Editor-in-Chief

OpenAI Scales Back Shopping Plans for ChatGPT

OpenAI is scaling back its plan to introduce shopping directly inside ChatGPT, marking a change in its high-profile effort to put checkouts inside the chatbot. Instead of allowing users to make purchases directly from product listings that show up in ChatGPT search results, the company is now focused on having checkouts take place inside of specific apps that plug into ChatGPT, an OpenAI spokesperson said.

The reasons for the change of heart are unclear, although only a small number of merchants have been selling goods through checkouts inside ChatGPT. OpenAI staff had realized that while ChatGPT users were researching products to buy in the chatbot, they weren't using the chatbot to actually help them make purchases, one person familiar with the project said.

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