OpenAI unable to pay bills? CFO worries about running operations in future after revenue, user targets missed

OpenAI may be leading the AI race, but fresh reports claim the company is facing pressure over rising costs and slower-than-expected revenue growth. Its CFO, Sarah Friar, has reportedly raised concerns about future bills if income does not grow fast enough.

In Short

• OpenAI reportedly missed recent user and revenue targets
• CFO Sarah Friar warned over future computing contract payments
• ChatGPT growth slowed as competition from Anthropic increased

OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, is one of the biggest names in AI today. But even as it leads the global AI race, fresh reports suggest that all may not be smooth inside the company. Behind the scenes, concerns are reportedly growing over whether OpenAI's massive spending plans can keep pace with its revenue growth in the coming years. According to The Wall Street Journal, OpenAI has recently fallen short of some of its internal targets for both new users and revenue. That has reportedly triggered discussions among senior leaders over the company's ability to continue funding its expensive AI infrastructure push.

At the centre of these concerns is Chief Financial Officer Sarah Friar. The report claims Friar has told other company leaders that OpenAI could struggle to meet future computing contract payments if revenue does not rise quickly enough. In simple terms, the company's ambitions may be moving faster than the money coming in.

This matters because AI at OpenAI's scale is not cheap. Training and running advanced models like ChatGPT requires huge data centres packed with specialised chips, cloud servers, and constant energy use. The cost of maintaining this infrastructure runs into billions of dollars.

Revenue targets missed, growth slows

The report also claims OpenAI missed multiple monthly revenue goals earlier this year. It reportedly lost some momentum to rival Anthropic in coding tools and enterprise AI services, two areas seen as key money-makers for AI companies.

ChatGPT's user growth also appears to have slowed after a strong run. OpenAI had reportedly set an internal goal of reaching 1 billion weekly active users by the end of last year, but did not hit that number. The company is also said to be dealing with subscriber defections, suggesting competition in the AI market is starting to bite.

Despite the reports, OpenAI leadership has publicly pushed back against the idea of internal conflict. In a statement to Reuters, CEO Sam Altman and Sarah Friar said: "This is ridiculous. We are totally aligned on buying as much compute as we can and working hard on it together every day."

OpenAI likely facing money issues

This is not the first time questions around OpenAI's finances have surfaced. A recent report by The Information said there are internal differences over when the company should go public through an IPO.

Friar is reportedly urging caution, believing OpenAI may need more time before it is ready for public market scrutiny. Preparing for an IPO requires strong internal systems, compliance readiness, and stable financial processes. According to the report, she feels much of that work is still ongoing.

Altman, however, is said to be more open to an earlier listing timeline, possibly as soon as late next year.

At the same time, OpenAI's spending commitments remain enormous. Reports suggest the company may burn through over $200 billion before becoming cash-flow positive. It has also reportedly committed more than $600 billion over five years for cloud server capacity.

That kind of spending shows how intense the AI race has become. But it also raises a difficult question - can even the world’s hottest AI company afford to keep moving this fast? Well, only time will confirm that.

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