Elevator Pitch

• OpenAI, despite its hype and sprawling ambitions, is fundamentally just another struggling AI startup lacking strategic focus, with unremarkable products and unsustainable finances.

Key Takeaways

• OpenAI continually leaks plans for diverse business lines (social media, productivity tools, hiring platforms, hardware) to fuel its valuation, but core revenue still overwhelmingly comes from ChatGPT subscriptions.
• API and agent revenues are negligible, and OpenAI's flagship products (like GPT-5 and Sora 2) are underwhelming and costly, revealing a lack of genuine innovation or scalable business model.
• The company's high burn rate and reliance on myth-making mask the reality that its products are commoditized, its models are no longer leading-edge, and it faces the same monetization struggles as every other AI startup.

Most Memorable Aspects

• OpenAI spent 150% of its first half 2025 revenue ($6.7B in costs vs. $4.3B in sales), burning enormous cash on R&D for lackluster results.
• The article asserts that "hallucinations" in LLMs are mathematically inevitable, underscoring the technology's persistent flaws.
• OpenAI's main differentiation is simply the amount of money backing it—not the quality or uniqueness of its offerings.

Direct Quotes

• "OpenAI wants you to believe it is everything, because in reality it’s a company bereft of strategy, focus or vision."
• "ChatGPT is a wrapper, every product it makes is a wrapper, and OpenAI is pretty fucking terrible at making products."
• "OpenAI lives and dies on its mythology as the center of innovation in the world of AI, yet reality is so much more mediocre."