OpenAI to expand globally with four new offices

NEW YORK

Californian company OpenAI, which makes generative AI chatbot ChatGPT, said on Wednesday it was expanding its global reach with four new offices.

The firm, which recently got a massive cash injection from investors including Microsoft and chip titan Nvidia, said it would open new sites in Paris, Brussels, Singapore and New York.

It has already opened an office in London and another in Dublin.

The public launch of ChatGPT in late 2022 catapulted the firm into the global spotlight.

ChatGPT allows users to generate human-like text documents from simple conversational prompts.

OpenAI also makes programs that produces images and is working on a video generator.

OpenAI has become an AI powerhouse after securing Silicon Valley's largest-ever funding round.

The firm raised $6.6 billion in cash and secured a $4 billion credit line earlier this month, propelling it to a reported $157 billion valuation.

Close partner Microsoft was again in on the deal, after its investment of $13 billion in 2023. New investors include Tokyo-based conglomerate SoftBank and AI chip maker Nvidia.

Others include MGX, a United Arab Emirates state-backed fund created to invest in AI.

OpenAI needs the money to pay for the immense running costs of building generative AI from the bottom up.

Delivering the powers of ChatGPT requires industrial-level computing power, and hefty pay packages for the world's most sought after researchers.