OpenAI Chief Executive Sam Altman described the pace of technological progress among Chinese firms as "amazingly fast" and "remarkable" in recent remarks to CNBC, highlighting rapid advancement across the broad technology stack but noting that performance varies by domain.
Altman said that in some areas Chinese companies are converging on the technological frontier, while in other areas they continue to trail. His comments came against the backdrop of a bilateral competition to build artificial general intelligence - AI systems that match human capabilities.
China is pursuing a strategy to scale its domestic semiconductor industry, aiming to develop chipmakers capable of competing with current leaders such as Nvidia. At the same time, Chinese AI firms have seen large stock rallies as investors increase their stakes in the sector.
OpenAI itself is working to broaden its revenue base as part of a longer-term path toward profitability. Investors have put roughly $70 billion into the company, according to deal-counting platform Dealroom. The company has also been reported to be finalizing a fundraising effort on the order of $100 billion, CNBC reported earlier.
One specific revenue avenue Altman addressed is advertising within ChatGPT. He said the company is exploring ad formats but has not settled on an approach, with plans at an early stage.
"The ads that I have personally liked the most in recent years from tech companies have been sort of Instagram style ads where you discover something new that you might really like and otherwise wouldn't have known about," Altman said. "I think we've got a real opportunity to push in that direction with ads in ChatGPT."
Altman added that OpenAI is experiencing "extremely rapid growth" and will prioritize accelerating that growth while maintaining reasonable unit economics. He said the company will pursue profitability "when we think it makes sense."
The comments sketch a picture of parallel developments: an aggressive push by Chinese players to close technological gaps and capture market share, and OpenAI's efforts to monetize a rapidly expanding user base through new products and potentially advertising, all while balancing growth with financial discipline.
Contextual note: The items above summarize Altman's public remarks and related reported developments as presented in recent interviews and market reporting.