For Ashley Kramer, OpenAI’s chief revenue officer, that means leaning on the company’s roots as a research lab and leveraging the experience it has gained over the years working with enterprise customers.
When working with customers in different industries, Kramer pointed out that certain elements can become repeatable in the enterprise space. “You understand how you can go from one bank to the other and help them, and then build on top of that,” she said. “We’re more focused on making sure we’re research-led first to build those products versus, in the enterprise, the big marketing buzz to try to capture a wider audience. We’re doing it very thoughtfully.”
But OpenAI also expects to burn through an eye-popping $115 billion between now and 2029—about $80 billion more than its previous estimate, according to the report. The ballooning spend is driven by the astronomical cost of computing power to train and run its AI models, along with a long-term plan to build its own chips and data centers to rein in costs.
Kramer, who has been with OpenAI since May, said the company has to strike a balance between making sure OpenAI has the capital it needs to build its frontier models and deliver its product capabilities, and driving customer adoption to earn revenue. “The balance is real, particularly from the finance level,” she said. “It’s all about measuring the usage of what we’re creating and making sure it’s driving value.”
