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Re:OpenAI annualised revenues $20B less than previously sign... by virtuosarmo on Thursday October 08, 2026 @01:01PM (#50008455)
Gift link: https://giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/actions/redeem/f77156...

Apparently they overstated revenue in an attempt to try to provide a direct comparison with Anthropic's reported metrics.

From the article: "According to a person with knowledge of the matter, the discrepancy arose from attempts by OpenAI’s own investors to produce a direct comparison with Anthropic’s annualised revenues. The pair calculate the figure in different ways, with Anthropic including the revenue from sales via cloud partners such as AWS and Google Cloud, while OpenAI does not. Efforts to “gross up” OpenAI’s annualised revenue led to reports that the group’s annualised revenue had hit $40bn in August. The company has since told investors its revenues have grown more than 70 per cent, leading to the $70bn figure"

**sorry the gift link can only be viewed 3 times..

Re:OpenAI annualised revenues $20B less than previously sign... by tonfa on Thursday October 08, 2026 @01:51PM (#50009283)
> Apparently they overstated revenue in an attempt to try to provide a direct comparison with Anthropic's reported metrics.

Just to clarify from my understanding of the quote, "they" here is openai investors, not openai.

Re:OpenAI annualised revenues $20B less than previously sign... by dofm on Thursday October 08, 2026 @05:02PM (#50012214)
The people who are currently holding the bag but would maybe like not to be holding the bag decided it was worth more?
Re:OpenAI annualised revenues $20B less than previously sign... by sigmar on Thursday October 08, 2026 @02:24PM (#50009834)
>The pair calculate the figure in different ways, with Anthropic including the revenue from sales via cloud partners such as AWS and Google Cloud, while OpenAI does not.

gift link didn't work for me, and is this poorly phrased? because it seems implausible that OpenAI doesn't typically include revenue from their models being used on AWS. Perhaps the "gross up" is referring to how the number is included? like Anthropic was using the value pre-removal of revenue sharing and putting the revenue share subtraction as a separate expense?

[not a finance guy so someone tell me I'm wrong if that's not a plausible reading]

Re:OpenAI annualised revenues $20B less than previously sign... by tfehring on Thursday October 08, 2026 @02:39PM (#50010085)
Re:OpenAI annualised revenues $20B less than previously sign... by TrainedMonkey on Thursday October 08, 2026 @01:45PM (#50009159)
Obviously not the same thing as lying, but Anthropic had also been juicing the revenues with making smart models incredibly verbose. In August my org 3x more in API credits vs July. In September the spend returned to July levels partially because they made models less verbose, but mostly because we've changed how we are using them.
Re:OpenAI annualised revenues $20B less than previously sign... by glitchc on Thursday October 08, 2026 @01:59PM (#50009444)
> Apparently they overstated revenue in an attempt to try to provide a direct comparison with Anthropic's reported metrics.

I'm confident both companies are lying about their revenues.

Re:OpenAI annualised revenues $20B less than previously sign... by simonw on Thursday October 08, 2026 @03:55PM (#50011198)
By how much do you think they are lying?
Re:OpenAI annualised revenues $20B less than previously sign... by askingforafrien on Thursday October 08, 2026 @02:54PM (#50010322)
Good news for you then my confident friend, as once Anthropic IPO you'll be able to become very rich putting your money where your mouth is.
Re:OpenAI annualised revenues $20B less than previously sign... by WheatMillington on Thursday October 08, 2026 @03:17PM (#50010657)
You think betting against AI markets will make you rich, even if you're right?
Re:OpenAI annualised revenues $20B less than previously sign... by SaucyWrong on Thursday October 08, 2026 @03:25PM (#50010766)
Ah yes, my favorite hacker news retort: one is entitled to a prediction if and only if one is prepared to take a huge financial stake in that prediction.

This take has been trotted out so many times, e.g. “How many puts have you bought if you’re so certain?”

Re:OpenAI annualised revenues $20B less than previously sign... by blitzar on Thursday October 08, 2026 @04:47PM (#50012020)
a ponzi scheme can remain irrational longer than you can remain solvent
Re:OpenAI annualised revenues $20B less than previously sign... by cactusplant7374 on Thursday October 08, 2026 @02:09PM (#50009598)
The link doesn't work.
Re:OpenAI annualised revenues $20B less than previously sign... by dang on Thursday October 08, 2026 @03:21PM (#50010718)
Ok, we've swapped the submitted URL (https://www.ft.com/content/b66a9858-f8fb-46cb-b506-44bfe26fc...) for a non-paywalled article above.
Re:OpenAI annualised revenues $20B less than previously sign... by mmooss on Thursday October 08, 2026 @01:58PM (#50009406)
All that tells you is that they haven't at all abandoned the disinformation: Now they are blaming Anthropic for it and trying to shift attention to them.

You can still learn something from it: Look at what they do, not what they say - look at how sophisticated their public communication is. They deliver that information in the perfect manner - not only the redirection and striking a blow against their rival, but they use an anonymous "person with knowledge of the matter": A named source at OpenAI might betray the self-interest in the statement, but some anonymous third party is just reporting what they know.

These guys are very good at it, though that shouldn't surprise you. Look at their product, in one sense a highly effective disinformation machine.

Re:OpenAI annualised revenues $20B less than previously sign... by ahartmetz on Thursday October 08, 2026 @02:57PM (#50010352)
They can afford, and need, the best bullshitters on the planet.
Re:OpenAI annualised revenues $20B less than previously sign... by WheatMillington on Thursday October 08, 2026 @03:18PM (#50010672)
>Look at their product, in one sense a highly effective disinformation machine.

What do you mean by this?

Re:OpenAI annualised revenues $20B less than previously sign... by simianwords on Thursday October 08, 2026 @03:21PM (#50010714)
there's a popular theory that AI hallucinates 100% of the time and the coping mechanism is to call it a bullshit machine
Re:OpenAI annualised revenues $20B less than previously sign... by mmooss on Friday October 09, 2026 @02:40AM (#50016846)
I suppose it's really in two senses:

* Due to the highly persuasive, human-like, manner in which AI output has been designed, users are persuaded to believe absolute falsehoods. As one popular example, lawyers filings with courts sometimes include fabricated citations - even the experts (the lawyers) are fooled.

* AI software is used for mass disinformation campaigns.

That's not all AI software does, but it's a significant part. You might say that the persuasive human tone is the defining characteristic of AI for most people.