‘Investing in OpenAI is high risk’: ChatGPT maker issues stark warning to investors

OpenAI, the company behind popular generative AI chatbot ChatGPT, has warned its investors that they could lose their investment or may not see any returns in a post-AGI world. The company further stated that it may be difficult to know what kind of role money will play in a world where AGI has been achieved.

A warning on the OpenAI website, first reported by Business Insider, reads, “It may be difficult to know what role money will play in a post-AGI world.”

“Investing in OpenAI Global, LLC is a high-risk investment. Investors could lose their capital contribution and not see any return,” it adds.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s recent remarks also caused quite a stir when he suggested that the AI industry may be in a bubble.

“Are we in a phase where investors as a whole are overexcited about AI? My opinion is yes.” Altman told journalists last week.

In an interaction with CNBC, Altman further stated that foundation models may have already hit saturation, and they may not get better in the future.

“The models have already saturated the chat use case. They’re not going to get much better… And maybe they’re going to get worse,” Altman stated.

Meanwhile, OpenAI finalised a $40 billion funding round from SoftBank at a $300 billion valuation. OpenAI employees are also reportedly planning to sell their $6 billion worth of shares at a $500 billion valuation.

What is AGI?

AGI, or Artificial General Intelligence, is a hypothetical stage in the development of AI systems where the foundation model can perform any intellectual task as well as or better than a human can. Almost all AI companies have proclaimed that they will be the first to reach AGI with their technology, but the current AI systems are thought to be a long way off from that landmark.

Not only is there no agreed-upon definition of AGI, there is also no confirmed timeline on when this hypothetical stage will be reached. Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis has previously predicted that AGI is still 5-10 years away, while others, like Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, state that we could see some form of AGI by 2026.