Amazon is reportedly in talks to invest as much as $50 billion into Sam Altman’s OpenAI — in what would be a massive bet on the ChatGPT creator.
Amazon boss Andy Jassy is leading negotiations with Altman, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter. The sources said the potential terms were not finalized and subject to change.
OpenAI is reportedly aiming to raise up to $100 billion in a fundraising round that would value the artificial giant at $830 billion. Amazon would be the largest single contributor to the round if it follows through with a $50 billion bet.
An Amazon spokesperson declined to comment on the report. OpenAI did not immediately return a request for comment.
Amazon already holds a sizable take in Anthropic, which is one of OpenAI’s chief rivals in the AI sector.
Earlier this week, the retail giant laid off about 16,000 employees. The company said the cuts were meant to streamline its operations and management ranks, but Amazon executives have also acknowledged that advancements in AI were a factor in the restructuring.
Meanwhile, Japanese investment giant SoftBank, which is already one of OpenAI’s largest shareholders, is in discussions to pour as much as $30 billion more into the company, The Journal previously reported.
Earlier this week, The Information reported that Nvidia, Amazon and Microsoft were in talks to collectively invest more than $60 billion in OpenAI. The tech outlet’s sources said Amazon was mulling an investment of up to $20 billion or more.
Microsoft, a longtime OpenAI investor, was said to be in talks to add less than $10 billion to the round.
The fundraising round would come at a critical time for OpenAI, which recently declared “code red” as it aims to improve ChatGPT amid increased competition from Google and other tech giants.
OpenAI is also reportedly considering going public.
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