- Sam Altman’s lunch with the New York Times and other news organization shows how desperate OpenAI is to make revenues, for example, from enterprise applications of its models.
- But OpenAI is saddled with 16 copyright lawsuits in the MDL lawsuit, which includes the New York Times.
- The copyright lawsuits are an albatross around OpenAI’s neck.
It’s been widely reported that Sam Altman convened the New York Times, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, and other news media to a lunch at Rosemary’s Midtown.
Quite remarkable given that the New York Times is suing OpenAI for copyright infringement and is seeking damages award that could be in the billions.
But the lunch shows the stiff business competition OpenAI faces from Google, Anthropic, and other AI companies. The “code red” Altman called last week, with Google’s resurgence with Gemini 3, signaled an urgency at OpenAI we have not seen before.
At the lunch shindig, “Altman made clear that selling to enterprises was a massive OpenAI priority.”
Yet there will be no clarity for OpenAI’s business until there’s a resolution to the 16 copyright lawsuits in the MDL litigation before Judge Stein, plus the Doe 1 v. Github appeal.
OpenAI’s projected revenue in 2025 is only $12.7 billion. If some, if not all, of the 17 copyright lawsuits against OpenAI are successful, the damages award could easily eclipse the total revenue of OpenAI — and then some.
There’s been discussion of OpenAI having an IPO. But the value of such an IPO would likely be lower — or at least less certain — if OpenAI is still saddled with 17 copyright lawsuits, including the New York Times lawsuit and a number of book class actions.
These copyright lawsuits are an albatross around OpenAI’s neck.