Overview
OpenAI has not hit internal expectations for both user growth and revenue, according to reporting that cites people familiar with the matter. The company missed an internal target to reach one billion weekly active users for its ChatGPT bot by the end of 2025, and it failed to meet multiple monthly revenue goals earlier in the year.
Executive concerns and internal responses
Chief Financial Officer Sarah Friar has raised alarms within the company about the financial implications of these shortfalls. She told other leaders she feared the firm may struggle to pay for future data center contracts if revenue does not accelerate sufficiently. In response to the revenue and user gaps, Friar and other executives are moving to tighten cost controls and to instill stronger business discipline across the organization.
Board scrutiny and strategic tension
Board members have also scrutinized OpenAI's recent data center agreements and questioned management decisions around further capacity commitments. Directors have pressed company leadership about CEO Sam Altman's push to secure additional computing power even as revenue indicators have softened.
Capital commitments and competitive backdrop
Over the past year, OpenAI struck a string of major deals that include commitments to spend some $600 billion on building data centers in the coming years. Those large-scale capacity plans coincide with rising competition from rivals such as Anthropic and Google, whose advanced AI models were reported to be matching or in some cases surpassing OpenAI in performance.
Timing and market context
The concerns about revenue growth and the pace of spending come as OpenAI presses toward an initial public offering, which is expected to occur by the end of the year. The combination of missed internal targets, questions about the affordability of future data center contracts, and board-level scrutiny has prompted a management shift toward cost discipline ahead of the planned public listing.
What is known and what remains limited
The details reported focus on internal targets, executive discussions, board questions, capital commitments, and competitor performance. Where specifics are limited in the reporting, the account notes the existence of concerns and measures taken rather than providing additional undisclosed financial metrics or future outcomes.