OpenAI is done with Shipmas, and faces huge challenges for 2025

OpenAI12 days from Shimas“, which concluded on Friday, brought a sense of joy to end the year. The marketing campaign was a way for the high-profile and controversial AI startup to show that it can launch an extensive list of new features and tools while also having some fun.

But when the calendar turns, the company faces some serious challenges. It is worth noting that there is a co-founder Elon Muskwho now runs a competing startup xAI, is in the midst of… Hot legal battle With OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, who could have a major impact on the company's future.

The threat Musk poses to OpenAI is even more significant given the huge amount of influence the world's richest person is poised to wield as part of the incoming Trump administration.

In recent months, Musk filed a lawsuit MicrosoftSupported by OpenAI and The court asked To prevent the company from turning into a for-profit company from a non-profit organization. In the posts on X, it is described This effort is considered a “total scam”. He claimed That “OpenAI is evil.” At the New York Times' DealBook Summit earlier this month, Altman spoke He said He views XAI as a “fierce competitor.”

The pressure on OpenAI is related in large part to its $157 billion valuation, which has been achieved in the past two years since the company launched its viral chatbot, ChatGPT, and began the boom in generative AI. OpenAI It closed its latest $6.6 billion round in Octoberis preparing to compete strongly with xAI as well as Microsoft, Google, Amazon Anthropy is on the market It is expected to reach $1 trillion in revenue over a decade.

Along with the drama surrounding OpenAI and Altman, the Shipmas were a way for the company to shift focus to its technology and build buzz for its products.

The most significant release over the course of 12 days was the public launch of SoraOpenAI's much-hyped video creation tool, was released on December 9.

Using Sora, which OpenAI first announced in February, is relatively simple: the user types in the desired scene, and the engine will return a high-resolution video. Sora can also create inspired clips from still images, expand existing video clips or fill in missing frames. Although other AI-powered video tools are available, Sora was the most anticipated of all due to the power of OpenAI's large language models.

On Wednesday, OpenAI gave it to users A new way to talk to a viral chatbot: 1-800-CHATGPT. OpenAI said people in the US can call 1-800-242-8478 for free 15 minutes per month, and WhatsApp users globally can send messages to the chatbot at the same number.

Other announcements included the full release of OpenAI's new thinking-focused o1 AI model, a demonstration of video and screen sharing options in ChatGPT's advanced voice mode, the ability to organize work into “projects” within ChatGPT, and a broader rollout of ChatGPT. Search ChatGPT And new developer tools. The company also used a marketing push to talk about it Integration with Apple For iPhone, iPad and macOS.

OpenAI concluded its 12-day release series on Friday by announcing its latest model, the o3, as well as the o3 mini. On a live feedAltman said the company will not release the models publicly on Friday but will make them immediately available for public safety testing.

The company launched o1 in September, and skipping straight to o3, Altman said it continues “the great tradition of OpenAI being really bad in names.”

The campaign was celebrated in some corners for the company's ability to deliver a strong year-end boost, and criticized by others as far more hype than substance. Either way, OpenAI is well aware that the competition is heating up quickly.

One of its main competitors, Amazon-backed Anthropic, was founded by early OpenAI researchers, and is attracting top talent. In May, OpenAI safety lead Jan Lake left OpenAI to join Anthropic, and in August, OpenAI co-founder John Schulman announced that leaving To join a competing startup. They were part of a wave of departures that peaked in September, when Three senior leadersmost notably CTO Mira Moratti, announced their exit on the same day.

A recent report from investor Anthropian Menlo Ventures found that OpenAI Giving up market share This year in enterprise AI, it fell from 50% to 34%, while Anthropic doubled its market share from 12% to 24%. The results came from a survey of 600 IT decision-makers at companies with 50 or more employees, according to the report.

One key area in which the two companies appear poised to go head-to-head is defence, where AI companies are backing away from previous bans on military use of their products and entering into partnerships with big industry players and the US Department of Defense.

The day before OpenAI's Shipmas event began, the company Announced a partnership with AndurilAllowing the defense technology provider to deploy advanced AI systems for “national security missions.” Last month, an anthropological and defense software vendor Palantir Amazon Web Services announced a partnership with Amazon Web Services to “provide U.S. intelligence and defense agencies with access” to Anthropic's AI systems.

However, the core battle is still reserved for users. Altman He said publicly Earlier this month, OpenAI now had 300 million weekly active users. Over the next year, the company is said to… Targeting 1 billion.

This level of growth will likely require an expensive marketing push and fast-tracked feature launches, as the company advances on its two-year timeline to transition from a nonprofit to a fully for-profit company. Earlier this month, OpenAI announced her appointment Its first chief marketing officerCryptocurrency company Kate Roche arrested Coinbase.

Then there's the increasingly complex relationship with Microsoft, a major investor in OpenAI and a major provider of cloud services. As the two companies continue to tout the value of their close partnership, there are increasing signs of tension.

Following Altman's abrupt but short-lived ouster from OpenAI late last year, reports emerged that Microsoft's C.E.O Satya Nadella He was not informed in advance. After quickly reinstating Altman, OpenAI gave Microsoft a non-voting board seat. Microsoft give up Position in July.

In March Nadella bring Ali Mustafa Soliman, who co-founded the AI ​​research company DeepMind and sold it to Google in 2014. Soliman later co-founded and led the startup Inflection AI, which was effectively acquired by Microsoft.

In its annual report published in July, Microsoft named OpenAI as a competitor, adding the company to a list that for years included its giant counterparts Amazon, Apple, Google and Amazon. dead. And in October, OpenAI The search feature has debuted within ChatGPT Which makes it better able to compete with search engines like Google and MicrosoftBing.

But the thorniest issue heading into the new year likely concerns Musk, who has been a key player as president-elect Donald Trump Mar-a-Lago Resort in Florida since the election.

Trump has said in the past that he would fire the president Joe Biden Amnesty International Executive Order, Issued in October 2023, which provided new safety assessments, civil rights and equity guidance and research on the impact of AI on the labor market.

Musk is set to lead the Trump administration's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which is expected to serve as an advisory office, alongside Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy. His new role could give him Musk, who is also running Tesla SpaceX owns the social media company X, and influences federal agency budgets, personnel, and regulations in ways that favor his companies.

“I'm starting to feel like @DOGE has real potential,” Musk to publish On X last month.

OpenAI did not provide a comment for the story, and Musk did not respond to a request for comment.

He watches: OpenAI starts “Shipmas”