Sam Altman Acknowledges OpenAI's Closed-Source Mistake as ChatGPT Subscribers Triple to 15.5M and Revenue Surges to $4B+

Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, acknowledged that the organization was on the 'wrong side of history' regarding its closed-source approach to artificial intelligence models. He emphasized the need for a new open-source strategy, stating, 'We will produce better models, but we will maintain less of a lead than we did in previous years.' This admission comes as OpenAI's ChatGPT experiences substantial growth, with subscriber numbers nearly tripling from 5.8 million to 15.5 million in 2024, indicating an annual recurring revenue of over $4 billion. The valuation discussions surrounding OpenAI have reached approximately $260 billion, fueled by the introduction of new premium tiers and API growth.