OpenAI — known for its popular generative artificial intelligence (AI) tool ChatGPT — is actively pitching its services directly to Fortune 500 companies, according to a source close to the matter. 

A report from Reuters on April 12, said that OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and chief operating officer Brad Lightcap met with hundreds of executives from major corporations across San Francisco, New York, and London.

The pitch centered around OpenAI's enterprise offerings, including ChatGPT Enterprise, a robust chatbot service tailored for corporate use, and software integrating customer applications with OpenAI's AI services via APIs.

The two noted that more than 92% of Fortune 500 companies already use the consumer version of its chatbot.

Notably, OpenAI assured prospective clients that data from ChatGPT Enterprise would not be used to train its models, emphasizing privacy and security. This follows a series of lawsuits in which OpenAI has been implicated in alleged data violations.

The move puts OpenAI in competition with its primary financial backer, Microsoft, which already offers some OpenAI services through its own platforms.

Related: OpenAI accuses New York Times of hacking AI models in copyright lawsuit

Through its Azure cloud and Microsoft 365 Copilot, Microsoft already offers access to OpenAI’s technology, which sparked some executives to express skepticism about paying for ChatGPT Enterprise on top of existing Microsoft services.

According to the anonymous sources in attendance, Altman and Lightcap addressed these concerns by highlighting the benefits of direct collaboration with OpenAI's team, which they said included access to cutting-edge models and customized AI solutions tailored to enterprise needs.

As of March 2024, OpenAI has a valuation of $68 billion and is on track to achieve its target of $1 billion in revenue for 2024. 

It hopes to make sales of its enterprise model a significant contributor to its bottom line. During the meetings, Lightcap reportedly revealed a surge in interest in the business model, with over 600,000 sign-ups for ChatGPT Enterprise and Team, up from 150,000 in January — underscoring growing demand for AI solutions in the corporate sector.

OpenAI has also been reported to have been in talks with movie studios in Hollywood, promoting its Sora video creation tool to studio executives.

While the technology has garnered excitement, concerns persist regarding the sourcing of training data, output reliability, and copyright protection.

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