OpenAI recently did not meet sales and user acquisition targets

According to Beating Monitoring, The Wall Street Journal reports that OpenAI has recently failed to meet its own set targets for new user acquisition and sales, sparking internal concerns that the company may struggle to support its massive spending on artificial intelligence infrastructure.

The newspaper, citing sources familiar with the matter, states that after competitors like Anthropic made progress in programming and enterprise markets, OpenAI failed to achieve its internal goal of reaching 1 billion weekly active users for ChatGPT by the end of 2025. The company has not yet announced this milestone, causing some investors to feel uneasy. Additionally, people familiar with the relevant data say the company is also facing difficulties with subscriber churn rates.

Chief Financial Officer Sarah Friar expressed concern in discussions with other company executives that if OpenAI cannot ramp up sales quickly enough, it may be unable to afford its future computing power needs. Over the past few months, Friar has also voiced reservations about OpenAI’s plan to go public by the end of this year. She emphasized to executives and the board that OpenAI needs to improve internal controls and warned that the company is not yet prepared to meet the strict disclosure standards required of a publicly listed company.