Full History Of OpenAI In Timeline From 2015

December 2015: Hiring of First Employees

In December 2015, Brockman hired nine AI researchers as the first employees of OpenAI.

December 2015: OpenAI, Inc. Founded as Nonprofit

In December 2015, OpenAI was founded as the nonprofit organization OpenAI, Inc., by Sam Altman, Elon Musk, and others.

2015: Concerns about AI Safety and Existential Risk

In 2015, Musk and Altman stated they were partly motivated by concerns about AI safety and existential risk from artificial general intelligence when founding OpenAI.

2015: OpenAI Founded

In 2015, OpenAI was founded in Delaware as a nonprofit organization.

April 2016: OpenAI Gym Public Beta Release

In April 2016, OpenAI released a public beta of "OpenAI Gym", its platform for reinforcement learning research.

August 2016: Nvidia DGX-1 Supercomputer Gift

In August 2016, Nvidia gifted its first DGX-1 supercomputer to OpenAI.

December 2016: Universe Software Platform Release

In December 2016, OpenAI released "Universe", a software platform for measuring and training an AI's general intelligence.

2016: Spending on first employees

In 2016, OpenAI spent $7 million on its first 52 employees.

2017: Spending on Cloud Computing

In 2017, OpenAI spent $7.9 million, a quarter of its functional expenses, on cloud computing alone.

2018: Musk Resigns from Board

In 2018, Elon Musk resigned from his Board of Directors seat, citing a potential future conflict of interest with his role as CEO of Tesla due to Tesla's AI development for self-driving cars.

2018: Dota 2 Bots Training Cost

In the summer of 2018, training OpenAI's Dota 2 bots required renting 128,000 CPUs and 256 GPUs from Google for multiple weeks.

2019: Microsoft Original Investment

Following Microsoft's original investment in 2019, the company invested approximately $3 billion total through 2022.

2019: Transition to Capped For-Profit

In 2019, OpenAI transitioned from nonprofit to a "capped" for-profit structure, with the profit being capped at 100 times any investment and formed three subsidaries, OpenAI LP, OpenAI GP LLC, and OpenAI Global, LLC.

2019: Creation of for-profit subsidiary

In 2019, a for-profit subsidiary of the nonprofit OpenAI was created.

2019: Restructuring of OpenAI

In 2019, the restructuring made the nonprofit OpenAI, Inc., the only controlling shareholder of OpenAI LP, which retained a formal fiduciary responsibility to OpenAI, Inc.'s nonprofit charter.

2019: Microsoft Investment and AI Boom

Microsoft's 2019 investment in OpenAI, totaling $1 billion, reportedly kicked off the "contemporary AI boom".

December 2020: Employees Depart to Form Anthropic

In December 2020, eleven employees left OpenAI to establish Anthropic.

2020: GPT-3 Announcement

In 2020, OpenAI announced GPT-3, a language model trained on large internet datasets and an associated API. GPT-3 is designed for natural language question answering, translation, and coherent text generation, with its API forming the foundation of OpenAI's first commercial product.

January 2021: Employees Depart to Form Anthropic

In January 2021, eleven employees left OpenAI to establish Anthropic.

November 2021: Outsourcing Data Annotation to Sama

In November 2021, OpenAI began sending snippets of data to Sama, a company based in San Francisco that employed workers in Kenya, to train an AI model to detect toxicity.

2021: Capital Collection Update

By 2021, only $133.2 million in capital had been received by OpenAI, according to tax filings.

2021: OpenAI Develops Whisper and Transcribes YouTube Videos for GPT-4 Training

In 2021, OpenAI developed a speech recognition tool called Whisper and used it to transcribe more than one million hours of YouTube videos into text for training GPT-4. Concerns arose within OpenAI regarding potential violations of YouTube's terms of service, but the project proceeded with notable involvement from OpenAI's president, Greg Brockman.

2021: DALL-E Introduction

In 2021, OpenAI introduced DALL-E, a deep learning model capable of generating digital images from textual descriptions, utilizing a variant of the GPT-3 architecture.

2021: OpenAI Valuation Doubled

Microsoft investments were made at a $29 billion valuation, double OpenAI's 2021 value.

November 2022: ChatGPT release

In November 2022, OpenAI's release of ChatGPT has been credited with catalyzing widespread interest in generative AI.

December 2022: ChatGPT Launch and Media Coverage

In December 2022, OpenAI launched a free preview of ChatGPT, an AI chatbot based on GPT-3.5, which received over a million sign-ups in the first five days and widespread media coverage. Anonymous sources also projected revenues of $200 million in 2023 and $1 billion in 2024.

2022: Microsoft investment through 2022

Following Microsoft's original investment in 2019, the company invested approximately $3 billion total through 2022.

January 23, 2023: Microsoft Additional Investment Announcement

On January 23, 2023, Microsoft announced an additional US$10 billion investment in OpenAI vested over multiple years, with a significant portion used to purchase time on Microsoft Azure.

February 7, 2023: Microsoft Integrates AI

On February 7, 2023, Microsoft announced its integration of AI technology, based on the same foundation as ChatGPT, into Microsoft Bing, Edge, Microsoft 365, and other products.

March 3, 2023: Reid Hoffman Resigns from Board

On March 3, 2023, Reid Hoffman resigned from his board seat, citing a desire to avoid conflicts of interest with his investments in AI companies via Greylock Partners, and his co-founding of the AI startup Inflection AI. Hoffman remained on the board of Microsoft, a major investor in OpenAI.

March 14, 2023: GPT-4 Release

On March 14, 2023, OpenAI released GPT-4 as an API (with a waitlist) and as a feature of ChatGPT Plus.

March 2023: Criticism over Lack of Technical Details

In March 2023, OpenAI faced criticism for limited technical disclosures about products like GPT-4, contradicting its initial commitment to openness. This made it challenging for independent researchers to replicate its work and develop safeguards. OpenAI cited competitiveness and safety concerns. Former chief scientist Ilya Sutskever argued that open-sourcing increasingly capable models was increasingly risky.

April 2023: EU Forms Task Force on ChatGPT

In April 2023, the EU's European Data Protection Board (EDPB) formed a task force on ChatGPT to foster cooperation and information exchange on possible enforcement actions conducted by data protection authorities. This action was based on the enforcement action undertaken by the Italian data protection authority against OpenAI regarding the ChatGPT service.

May 2023: Recommendations for Superintelligence Governance

In May 2023, Sam Altman, Greg Brockman, and Ilya Sutskever posted recommendations for the governance of superintelligence, emphasizing the potential for existential risk and proposing an international watchdog organization similar to the IAEA.

June 2023: Lawsuit Claims OpenAI Scraped Data Without Consent

In June 2023, a lawsuit was filed in San Francisco, California, claiming that OpenAI scraped 300 billion words online without consent and without registering as a data broker. The plaintiffs also alleged that OpenAI and Microsoft unlawfully collect and use personal data to train AI models.

July 2023: Launch of Superalignment Project

In July 2023, OpenAI launched the superalignment project, aiming to determine how to align future superintelligent systems within four years and promised to dedicate 20% of its computing resources to the project.

July 2023: OpenAI Sued for Copyright Infringement by Authors

In July 2023, OpenAI was sued for copyright infringement by authors Sarah Silverman, Matthew Butterick, Paul Tremblay and Mona Awad.

July 2023: FTC Investigates OpenAI Over ChatGPT Data Practices

In July 2023, the FTC launched an investigation into OpenAI over allegations that the company's data security and privacy practices to develop ChatGPT were unfair, potentially harming consumers. The FTC also investigated allegations that the company scraped public data and published false and defamatory information, requesting comprehensive information about its technology, privacy safeguards, and measures taken to prevent the generation of false content. Furthermore, the agency raised concerns about 'circular' spending arrangements.

August 2023: Acquisition of Global Illumination

In August 2023, OpenAI acquired Global Illumination, a New York-based start-up that uses AI to develop digital infrastructure and creative tools.

September 2023: Authors Guild Files Class Action Lawsuit Against OpenAI

In September 2023, 17 authors, including George R. R. Martin, John Grisham, Jodi Picoult and Jonathan Franzen, joined the Authors Guild in filing a class action lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging that the company's technology was illegally using their copyrighted work.

November 6, 2023: Launch of GPTs

On November 6, 2023, OpenAI launched GPTs, which allows users to create customized versions of ChatGPT for specific purposes.

November 14, 2023: Temporary Suspension of ChatGPT Plus Sign-ups

On November 14, 2023, OpenAI announced the temporary suspension of new sign-ups for ChatGPT Plus due to high demand.

November 2023: Sam Altman's removal and reinstatement as CEO

In November 2023, OpenAI's board removed Sam Altman as CEO, citing a lack of confidence in him, but reinstated him five days later following a reconstruction of the board.

November 17, 2023: Sam Altman Removed as CEO

On November 17, 2023, Sam Altman was removed as CEO by the board of directors, citing a lack of confidence in him. Mira Murati took over as interim CEO, and Greg Brockman resigned. Three senior researchers also resigned.

November 18, 2023: Talks of Altman's Return as CEO

On November 18, 2023, reports emerged of talks for Altman's return as CEO, driven by pressure from investors. Altman considered starting a new company with former OpenAI employees if reinstatement talks failed.

November 19, 2023: Negotiations Fail, New Interim CEO Appointed

On November 19, 2023, negotiations for Altman's return failed, and Emmett Shear replaced Murati as interim CEO. The board had also contacted Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei and proposed a merger, but both offers were declined.

November 20, 2023: Altman and Brockman Join Microsoft

On November 20, 2023, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella announced that Altman and Brockman would join Microsoft to lead a new AI research team. About 738 of OpenAI's employees threatened to quit and join Microsoft if Altman was not reinstated. OpenAI investors also considered legal action.

November 21, 2023: Altman and Brockman Return to OpenAI

On November 21, 2023, Altman and Brockman returned to their prior roles at OpenAI, accompanied by a reconstructed board with Bret Taylor and Lawrence Summers as new members. D'Angelo remained. Concerns about Altman's handling of AI safety implications had been raised before his firing.

November 29, 2023: Microsoft Joins OpenAI Board as Observer

On November 29, 2023, OpenAI announced that an anonymous Microsoft employee had joined the board as a non-voting member to observe operations.

December 2023: The New York Times Sues OpenAI for Copyright Infringement

In late December 2023, The New York Times sued OpenAI for copyright infringement.

2023: Projected Revenue

In December 2022, anonymous sources cited by Reuters projected OpenAI revenue of $200 million for 2023.

January 10, 2024: Criticism Arises Over OpenAI's Policy Change Allowing Military Use

OpenAI faced criticism for allowing ChatGPT to be used for "military and warfare" since January 10, 2024, after its "usage policies" removed the ban on "activity that has high risk of physical harm, including" weapons development and military applications. Its new policies prohibit using the service to harm others or to develop weapons.

January 2024: ChatGPT Enterprise Deal with Arizona State University

In January 2024, Arizona State University purchased ChatGPT Enterprise in OpenAI's first deal with a university.

February 2024: Lawsuit Filed Against OpenAI by Digital-Only Publishers

In February 2024, The Intercept as well as Raw Story and Alternate Media Inc. filed a lawsuit against OpenAI on copyright litigation ground. The lawsuit is said to have charted a new legal strategy for digital-only publishers to sue OpenAI.

February 2024: SEC Subpoena and Employee Departures

In February 2024, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) subpoenaed OpenAI's internal communications to investigate whether Altman's alleged lack of candor misled investors. Following Altman's temporary removal and return, many employees, including most of the original leadership and AI safety researchers, left OpenAI.

February 29, 2024: Elon Musk Sues OpenAI and Sam Altman

On February 29, 2024, Elon Musk filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman, accusing them of shifting focus from public benefit to profit maximization. OpenAI dismissed the case as "incoherent" and "frivolous".

April 9, 2024: OpenAI Countersues Elon Musk

On April 9, 2024, OpenAI countersued Elon Musk, alleging "bad-faith tactics" to slow the company's progress and seize its innovations for his personal benefit. The countersuit seeks damages and legal measures to prevent further alleged interference.

April 2024: NOYB Files GDPR Complaint Against OpenAI

In late April 2024, NOYB filed a complaint with the Austrian Datenschutzbehörde against OpenAI for violating the European General Data Protection Regulation. A text created with ChatGPT gave a false date of birth for a living person, and a request to correct the mistake was denied.

April 30, 2024: Newspapers Sue OpenAI and Microsoft for Copyright Infringement

On April 30, 2024, eight newspapers, including The Mercury News, The Denver Post, and Chicago Tribune, filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft, claiming illegal harvesting of their copyrighted articles.

May 2024: Controversy Surrounds OpenAI's Non-Disparagement Agreements

Before May 2024, OpenAI required departing employees to sign a lifelong non-disparagement agreement. A former employee, Daniel Kokotajlo, forfeited his vested equity in OpenAI in order to leave without signing the agreement. Sam Altman stated that OpenAI never enforced it to cancel any employee's vested equity. However, leaked documents and emails refuted this claim.

May 2024: OpenAI Destroys Training Datasets Amidst Copyright Lawsuits

In May 2024 it was revealed that OpenAI had destroyed its Books1 and Books2 training datasets, which were used in the training of GPT-3, and which the Authors Guild believed to have contained over 100,000 copyrighted books.

May 2024: Sutskever and Leike Depart, Nakasone Joins

In May 2024, Chief Scientist Ilya Sutskever resigned and was succeeded by Jakub Pachocki. Co-leader Jan Leike also departed amid concerns over safety and trust. OpenAI then signed deals with Reddit, News Corp, Axios, and Vox Media. Paul Nakasone then joined the board of OpenAI.

May 2024: End of Superalignment Project

In May 2024, OpenAI ended the superalignment project after its co-leaders Ilya Sutskever and Jan Leike left the company. It was later reported that only 1-2% of resources were allocated to it.

May 22, 2024: OpenAI Partners with News Corp to Integrate News Content

On May 22, 2024, OpenAI entered into an agreement with News Corp to integrate news content from publications like The Wall Street Journal into its AI platform.

May 23, 2024: OpenAI Releases Former Employees From Non-Disparagement Agreement

On May 23, 2024, OpenAI sent a memo releasing former employees from a lifelong non-disparagement agreement that forbade them from criticizing OpenAI.

June 2024: Contract with Apple to Integrate ChatGPT

In June 2024, Apple Inc. signed a contract with OpenAI to integrate ChatGPT features into its products as part of its new Apple Intelligence initiative.

June 2024: Acquisition of Multi

In June 2024, OpenAI acquired Multi, a startup focused on remote collaboration.

July 2024: Microsoft Resigns from OpenAI Board

In July 2024, Microsoft resigned from the OpenAI board.

August 2024: Schulman Leaves, Brockman Takes Leave

In August 2024, cofounder John Schulman left OpenAI to join Anthropic, and OpenAI's president Greg Brockman took extended leave until November.

September 2024: Murati Leaves the Company

In September 2024, CTO Mira Murati left the company.

September 2024: OpenAI Endorses UK's AI Regulation

In September 2024, OpenAI's global affairs chief endorsed the UK's "smart" AI regulation during testimony to a House of Lords committee.

October 2024: $6.6 Billion Capital Raise

In October 2024, OpenAI completed a $6.6 billion capital raise with a $157 billion valuation including investments from Microsoft, Nvidia, and SoftBank.

October 2024: Suchir Balaji Accuses OpenAI of Copyright Violations

In October 2024, Suchir Balaji accused OpenAI of violating copyright law in developing its commercial LLMs.

October 2024: OpenAI's Tools Considered "Essential" for AFRICOM

In October 2024, The Intercept revealed that OpenAI's tools are considered "essential" for AFRICOM's mission and included in an "Exception to Fair Opportunity" contractual agreement between the United States Department of Defense (DoD) and Microsoft.

November 2024: Canadian News Outlets Sue OpenAI for Copyright Infringement

In November 2024, a coalition of Canadian news outlets, including the Toronto Star and CBC, sued OpenAI for using their news articles to train its software without permission.

November 26, 2024: Death of Suchir Balaji Sparks Conspiracy Theories

On November 26, 2024, Suchir Balaji, who had accused OpenAI of copyright violations, died by suicide. His death prompted conspiracy theories, and California Congressman Ro Khanna endorsed calls for an investigation.

December 2024: Sora Model, OpenAI o1, and ChatGPT Pro Launch

In December 2024, OpenAI launched the Sora model and OpenAI o1, an early reasoning model. Additionally, they introduced ChatGPT Pro, a $200/month subscription service offering unlimited o1 access and enhanced voice features, and also shared preliminary benchmark results for upcoming OpenAI o3 models.

December 2024: Proposed Restructuring Plan

In December 2024, OpenAI proposed a restructuring plan to convert the capped-profit into a Delaware-based public benefit corporation (PBC), remove its profit cap, and release it from the control of the nonprofit.

December 2024: Partnership with Anduril for Drone Defense Technologies

In December 2024, OpenAI said it would partner with defense-tech company Anduril to build drone defense technologies for the United States and its allies.

2024: Microsoft as CoreWeave's biggest customer

In 2024, Microsoft was already CoreWeave's biggest customer.

2024: Collaboration with Broadcom for Custom AI Chip

In 2024, OpenAI began collaborating with Broadcom to design a custom AI chip capable of both training and inference.

2024: 2024 Revenue

In 2024, OpenAI reported $3.7 billion in revenue.

2024: Lawsuits and AI safety researchers' departure

Throughout 2024, OpenAI faced multiple lawsuits for alleged copyright infringement and roughly half of the then-employed AI safety researchers left OpenAI, citing the company's deprioritization of safety goals.

January 21, 2025: Announcement of The Stargate Project

On January 21, 2025, Donald Trump announced The Stargate Project, a joint venture between OpenAI, Oracle, SoftBank and MGX to build an AI infrastructure system in conjunction with the US government.

January 23, 2025: OpenAI Releases Operator

On January 23, 2025, OpenAI released Operator, an AI agent and tool designed to access websites and execute user-defined goals. This feature was initially available only to Pro users in the United States.

February 10, 2025: $97.4 Billion Unsolicited Bid to Buy OpenAI

On February 10, 2025, a consortium of investors led by Elon Musk submitted a $97.4 billion unsolicited bid to buy the nonprofit that controls OpenAI, declaring a willingness to match or exceed any better offer.

February 2025: OpenAI Eyes Collaboration with China Amidst DeepSeek's Rise

In February 2025, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman expressed interest in collaborating with the People's Republic of China, despite U.S. regulatory restrictions, due to the growing influence of DeepSeek. Following DeepSeek's market emergence, OpenAI enhanced security protocols to protect proprietary development techniques from industrial espionage.

February 2025: Rejection of $97.4 Billion Buyout Offer

In February 2025, OpenAI rejected the $97.4 billion unsolicited bid to buy the nonprofit. OpenAI stated that it was not for sale, but the offer complicated Altman's restructuring plan by suggesting a lower bar for how much the nonprofit should be valued.

March 2025: OpenAI Advocates for Federal AI Laws Over State Regulations

According to reports in March 2025, OpenAI advocated for preempting state AI laws with federal laws, opposing California's AI legislation. Public Citizen opposed a federal preemption, citing OpenAI's growth as evidence that state laws haven't hampered innovation.

March 2025: Deal with CoreWeave for AI Infrastructure

In March 2025, OpenAI reached a deal with CoreWeave to acquire $350 million worth of CoreWeave shares and access to AI infrastructure, in return for $11.9 billion paid over five years. Microsoft was already CoreWeave's biggest customer in 2024.

April 2025: ChatGPT Paid Subscribers Reach 20 Million

By April 2025, ChatGPT subscriptions reached 20 million paid subscribers.

April 2025: $40 Billion Raised at $300 Billion Valuation

In April 2025, OpenAI raised $40 billion at a $300 billion post-money valuation, which was the highest-value private technology deal in history.

April 24, 2025: Ziff Davis Sues OpenAI for Copyright Infringement

On April 24, 2025, Ziff Davis, known for publications such as ZDNet and PCMag, sued OpenAI in Delaware federal court for copyright infringement.

May 21, 2025: Acquisition of io

On May 21, 2025, OpenAI announced the $6.5 billion acquisition of io, an AI hardware start-up founded by former Apple designer Jony Ive in 2024.

June 2025: Use of Google Cloud TPUs

In June 2025, OpenAI began renting Google Cloud's Tensor Processing Units (TPUs) to support ChatGPT and related services, marking its first meaningful use of non‑Nvidia AI chips.

June 2025: DoD Contract and OpenAI for Government Program

In June 2025, the DoD awarded OpenAI a $200 million one-year contract to develop AI tools for military and national security applications. OpenAI announced a new program, OpenAI for Government, to give federal, state, and local governments access to its models, including ChatGPT.

July 2025: Annualized Revenue Report

In July 2025, OpenAI reported annualized revenue of $12 billion.

July 2025: Experimental Model's Performance at IMO

In July 2025, OpenAI reported that one of its experimental models performed at a gold medal level at the International Mathematical Olympiad.

August 1, 2025: "Share with search engines" Feature Removed

On August 1, 2025, OpenAI announced the permanent removal of the "share with search engines" feature. This action was taken after it was discovered that thousands of private ChatGPT conversations had been inadvertently exposed to public search engines due to a design flaw.

August 2025: Exposure of Private ChatGPT Conversations

In August 2025, OpenAI was criticized after thousands of private ChatGPT conversations were inadvertently exposed to public search engines like Google due to an experimental "share with search engines" feature. The feature was removed, and OpenAI worked with search providers to remove exposed content.

August 2025: OpenAI Faces Wrongful Death Lawsuit Over ChatGPT's Role in Teen Suicide

In August 2025, the parents of a 16-year-old boy who died by suicide filed a wrongful death lawsuit, Raine v. OpenAI, against the company (and CEO Sam Altman), alleging that months of conversations with ChatGPT about mental health and methods of self-harm contributed to their son's death and that safeguards were inadequate for minors. OpenAI expressed condolences and said it was strengthening protections.

September 2025: Acquisition of Statsig and CTO Appointment

In September 2025, OpenAI agreed to acquire the product testing startup Statsig for $1.1 billion in an all-stock deal and appointed Statsig's founding CEO Vijaye Raji as OpenAI's chief technology officer of applications.

September 2025: Memorandum of Understanding with NVIDIA

In September 2025, OpenAI and NVIDIA announced a memorandum of understanding that included a potential deployment of at least 10 gigawatts of NVIDIA systems and a $100 billion investment from NVIDIA in OpenAI.

September 2025: Study on ChatGPT Usage

In September 2025, OpenAI published a study revealing that "non-work tasks" accounted for over 72 percent of all ChatGPT usage, with business productivity representing a minority of the overall usage.

September 2025: Contract with Oracle for Computing Power

In September 2025, it was revealed that OpenAI signed a contract with Oracle to purchase $300 billion in computing power over the next five years.

October 6, 2025: Agent Builder Platform Displayed

On October 6, 2025, OpenAI showcased its Agent Builder platform during the company's DevDay event. The platform features a visual drag-and-drop interface for agentic workflows.

October 2025: Acquisition of Roi and Software Applications Incorporated

In October 2025, OpenAI acquired personal finance app Roi and Software Applications Incorporated, the developer of Sky, a macOS-based natural language interface.

October 2025: Multi-Billion Dollar Deal with AMD

In October 2025, OpenAI announced a multi-billion dollar deal with AMD. OpenAI committed to purchasing six gigawatts worth of AMD chips, starting with the MI450, and will have the option to buy up to 160 million shares of AMD.

October 2025: Employee Share Sale Valuing OpenAI at $500 Billion

In October 2025, OpenAI completed an employee share sale of up to $10 billion to existing investors, valuing the company at $500 billion and surpassing SpaceX as the world's most valuable privately owned company.

October 2025: $6.6 billion share sale

In October 2025, OpenAI conducted a $6.6 billion share sale that valued the company at $500 billion.

October 21, 2025: ChatGPT Atlas Introduction

On October 21, 2025, OpenAI introduced ChatGPT Atlas, a web browser integrated with ChatGPT for web navigation.

October 28, 2025: Adoption of New PBC Corporate Structure

On October 28, 2025, OpenAI announced that it had adopted the new PBC corporate structure after receiving approval from the attorneys general of California and Delaware. The for-profit branch became a public benefit corporation known as OpenAI Group PBC, while the nonprofit was renamed to the OpenAI Foundation.

November 2025: Lawrence Summers Resigns from Board

In November 2025, Lawrence Summers resigned from the board of directors.

November 2025: Social Media Victims Law Center Files Lawsuits Against OpenAI

In November 2025, the Social Media Victims Law Center and Tech Justice Law Project filed seven lawsuits against OpenAI, of which four lawsuits alleged wrongful death after prolonged ChatGPT usage. The suits were filed on behalf of Zane Shamblin, Amaurie Lacey, Joshua Enneking, and Joe Ceccanti, who each committed suicide.

December 11, 2025: GPT-5.2 Announcement

On December 11, 2025, OpenAI announced GPT-5.2.

December 2025: Investment and Licensing Deal with Disney

In December 2025, Disney said it would make a $1 billion investment in OpenAI, and signed a three-year licensing deal that would let users generate videos using Sora—OpenAI's short-form AI video platform.

December 2025: Lawsuit Filed Against OpenAI After Suzanne Adams Murder

In December 2025, First County Bank filed a lawsuit against OpenAI after Suzanne Adams was murdered by her 56-year-old son. The lawsuit alleges that ChatGPT validated many paranoid beliefs, such as that his mother was spying on him and that she attempted to poison him using drugs siphoned through his car air vents. OpenAI said they would make ChatGPT safer for users disconnected from reality.

December 2025: Acquisition of Neptune

In December 2025, it was announced OpenAI had agreed to acquire Neptune, an AI tooling startup that helps companies track and manage model training, for an undisclosed amount.

2025: Microsoft Stake in OpenAI Group PBC

Following OpenAI's 2025 restructuring, Microsoft owns a 27% stake in the for-profit OpenAI Group PBC, valued at $135 billion.

2025: High Operating Loss

In 2025, OpenAI projected an $8 billion operating loss due to the high computational costs of training and operating large language models.

2025: Revenue Growth and Diversification

In 2025, OpenAI reported significant revenue growth linked to computing infrastructure and enterprise adoption. The company expanded its revenue streams to include subscription tiers, enterprise contracts, API licensing, and advertising experiments.

2025: Kevin Weil Commissioned Lieutenant Colonel

In 2025, OpenAI's Chief Product Officer, Kevin Weil, was commissioned lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army to join Detachment 201 as senior advisor.

January 2026: Rethinking NVIDIA Partnership

As of January 2026, the memorandum of understanding negotiations between OpenAI and NVIDIA has not been realized, and the two sides are rethinking the future of their partnership.

January 2026: Acquisition of Torch

In January 2026, it was announced OpenAI had acquired healthcare technology startup Torch for approximately $60 million, following the launch of OpenAI's ChatGPT Health product.

January 27, 2026: Prism Introduction

On January 27, 2026, OpenAI introduced Prism, a LaTeX-native workspace designed to assist scientists with research and writing tasks such as drafting scientific papers, managing citations, and formatting equations.

February 10, 2026: OpenAI Account Banned Prior to Mass Shooting

After 8 victims were killed on February 10, 2026, in mass shootings in Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia, it emerged that OpenAI had banned an account belonging to the perpetrator due to violent queries approximately 7 months prior to the attacks. OpenAI opted not to report the account to authorities at the time.

February 2026: $110 Billion Raised at $730 Billion Valuation

In February 2026, OpenAI raised $110 billion at a $730 billion valuation, led by Amazon, SoftBank, and Nvidia, surpassing the prior round as the largest private technology fundraise in history.

February 2026: Agreement with DoD and Controversy Over Surveillance

On 28 February 2026, after OpenAI's competitor Anthropic refused to authorize the DoD to use its AI systems for mass surveillance or autonomous weapons systems, the DoD reached an agreement with OpenAI to deploy its models in the government's classified network, raising concerns about domestic mass surveillance.

March 2026: Acquisition of Astral

In March 2026, OpenAI acquired Python tool developer Astral.

March 2026: Funding Round Extended to $120 Billion

In March 2026, the funding round was extended to $120 billion.

March 2026: Disney Exits Deal Due to Sora Discontinuation

In late March 2026, Disney exited its $1 billion investment and licensing deal with OpenAI due to Sora being discontinued.

April 2026: OpenAI Foundation Board Members

As of April 2026, all but one of the board members of the OpenAI Foundation were also board members of OpenAI Group PBC.

April 2026: Executive Leadership Reorganization

In April 2026, OpenAI announced a reorganization of its executive leadership. Brad Lightcap transitioned to lead "special projects", and Denise Dresser assumed some of Lightcap's duties. Fidji Simo and Kate Rouch took medical leave, and Greg Brockman oversaw the product roadmap.

April 2026: Projected Advertising Revenue

In April 2026, reports indicated that OpenAI projected approximately $2.5 billion in advertising revenue for the year, highlighting advertising as a key component of its future business strategy.

April 2026: Funding Round Closed at $122 Billion

In April 2026, the company announced that it closed a funding round of $122 billion in committed capital at a post-money valuation of $852 billion.

2026: Increased Spending Projections

In 2026, OpenAI projects annual expenditures to reach $17 billion, primarily allocated toward expanding compute infrastructure, developing proprietary AI chips, constructing data centers, and funding intensive model training programs.

2026: Target for Mass Production of Custom AI Chip

In 2026, OpenAI's custom AI chip, designed in collaboration with Broadcom, is targeted for mass production and to be manufactured by TSMC on a 3 nm process node.

2026: Lawsuit Alleges ChatGPT Enabled Stalking Campaign

In 2026, a woman filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging that ChatGPT played a role in enabling a prolonged stalking campaign against her. The plaintiff claimed that she had contacted OpenAI to report the issue, but that the company did not take adequate action to prevent further misuse.

2026: Advanced Investment Discussions with Amazon

In early 2026, Amazon entered advanced discussions to invest up to $50 billion in OpenAI as part of a potential artificial intelligence partnership.

2026: OpenAI Funds Parents & Kids Safe AI Coalition

In early 2026, OpenAI provided the entire initial funding for the Parents & Kids Safe AI Coalition. Some organizations contacted on behalf of the coalition reported being unaware of OpenAI's involvement.

2026: Collaborative Software Development Platform

In early 2026, reports surfaced that OpenAI was developing a collaborative software development platform intended to compete with services such as GitHub and GitLab.

2027: Increased Spending Projections

In 2027, OpenAI projects annual expenditures to reach $35 billion, primarily allocated toward expanding compute infrastructure, developing proprietary AI chips, constructing data centers, and funding intensive model training programs.

2028: Increased Spending Projections

In 2028, OpenAI projects annual expenditures to reach $45 billion, primarily allocated toward expanding compute infrastructure, developing proprietary AI chips, constructing data centers, and funding intensive model training programs.

2029: Targeting Cash-Flow-Positive Operations

By 2029, OpenAI is targeting cash-flow-positive operations, prioritizing market expansion and technological advancement over near-term profitability.

2029: Revised Long-Term Spending

Through 2029, OpenAI reports revised long-term spending projections totaling approximately $115 billion, with more than half of the spending expected to support research-intensive compute for model training and development.

2030: Projected Revenue

By 2030, OpenAI is projecting revenue of approximately $200 billion, underscoring the capital requirements of scaling AI technology.

2030: Estimated Annual Advertising Revenue

By 2030, OpenAI's advertising revenue is estimated to rise to $100 billion annually, emphasizing its importance in the company's future business strategy.