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OpenAI Steps Up Monetization Drive as Sora2 Deepfakes Draw Fire and Restructure Could Put Microsoft on Top

The company is pursuing new revenue to fund massive compute obligations under a plan that would leave Microsoft with the largest stake.

Overview

  • Families and industry groups condemned ultra‑realistic Sora2 videos of deceased celebrities, with Robin Williams’s daughter urging an end to such posts and the Motion Picture Association citing a surge in infringing clips.
  • OpenAI said representatives of recently deceased public figures can request exclusion from Sora cameo appearances, responding to calls for tighter likeness and rights controls.
  • Fresh Financial Times reporting outlines a five‑year push to commercialize Sora and AI agents, explore novel debt financing, and position the Stargate project as a compute supply business to cover multi‑gigawatt needs.
  • The company’s annualized revenue is about $13 billion with roughly 800 million regular users and a ~5% pay rate, as it tests lower‑priced plans in India, expands to the Philippines and Brazil, takes commissions via in‑app checkout, and evaluates ads and consumer hardware with Jony Ive.
  • Proposed restructuring would make Microsoft the largest shareholder at about 30% as partners including Nvidia inject capital, raising dilution concerns, while rivals advance with xAI targeting AI‑generated games and former insider Jack Clark warning of emergent, situationally aware behaviors.