OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar on IPO, AI Rivalries, New Device, and Spending $100B+ on Compute

Open AAI's CFO, Sarah Frier. OpenAI 的首席财务官，Sarah Friar。 We got to get right to it. 咱们直接进入主题。 You have just completed what I regard as the most successful fundraising round in history. 你刚刚完成了我认为有史以来最成功的一轮融资。 We're going to raise actually north of $120 billion. 我们实际上将融资超过 1200 亿美元。 We think AI is the biggest era that we've seen to date. 我们认为 AI 是迄今为止最大的时代。 We're just starting to understand what it's going to mean for global productivity and with that, you know, hopefully more affluence, better lives for everyone. 我们才刚开始理解它对全球生产力意味着什么，以及由此带来的更多富足、更好的生活。 Luck is whatever the preparation meets opportunity, but you got to grab it. 所谓运气，就是准备遇上机会，但你得抓住它。 Longtime listener, first time caller. 长期听众，首次来电。 Quite exciting to get to hang out with all the bros here. 能和各位大佬一起出来玩，真的很兴奋。 Hello. 大家好。 We weren't sure how to start this off, but I thought the best thing was to allow our URSTW cryptosar to maybe 我们不太确定怎么开场，但我觉得最好的方式是让我们的评论嘉宾来 save comments. 发表一些看法。 I saw an article today, I think it might have been in the Wall Street Journal, that the perception is that there's an advantage to IPOing earlier if you're an AI company. 我今天看到一篇文章，好像是在《华尔街日报》上，说的是如果你是 AI 公司，尽早 IPO 是有优势的。 So now we know SpaceX is going and then the question is when's when are open AI and Anthropic going to go? 现在我们知道 SpaceX 要上市了，那问题就是 OpenAI 和 Anthropic 什么时候上市？ And I'm curious, how do you think about that? 我很好奇，你怎么看待这件事？ Do you think there is a little bit of a race on or you know, you haven't made a decision about that yet? 你觉得这是一场竞赛，还是说你们还没有就此做出决定？ Like in the end, an IPO, I say this to the team all the time, it's a milestone. 说到底，IPO，我经常跟团队说，那只是一个里程碑。 It is not a destination. 它不是终点。 Do not run your company as if that's some sort of destination. 不要把它当成某种终点来经营公司。 It's just another way to fund raise. 那只是另一种融资方式。 We just did, you heard me on on the the s the sizzle reel, raise 122 billion dollars in March, and that was to give ourselves maximum flexibility. 就像刚才说的，我们在 3 月份融了 1220 亿美元，目的就是给自己最大的灵活性。 I feel like my job as a CFO is create optionality for this not just this company but just this era that we're living in. 我觉得我作为 CFO 的职责，就是为这家公司，以及我们所处的这个时代，创造最大的选择空间。 So Sarah was that that point in fundraising is that the biggest private republic up until the SpaceX IPO? Sarah，那一轮融资，在 SpaceX 上市之前，那是最大的私募融资吗？ It is. 是的。 It is by orders of magnitude. 是的，而且领先幅度是数量级的差距。 I think the largest IPO to date was the Sidio Ramco which was about $30 billion. 我觉得迄今为止最大的 IPO 是沙特阿美，大约 300 亿美元。 So it is actually incredible that you're going to have potentially three IPOs at a scale that will be bigger even than 2001 2000 that that time frame there was a lot that went on in the market too but the market has grown and by the way the other thing going on in the market is like if you look at buybacks M&A and so on it's actually a lot of capital keeps being returned back to shareholders and cash so there is a lot of money sitting on the sidelines but in the spirit of like the question David, I think in the end you want to you'll be measured, right? 所以其实非常了不起，有可能会出现三个 IPO，规模甚至比 2000 年、2001 年那个时期还大，那个时期市场上也发生了很多事，但市场已经增长了。顺便说一句，市场上还有另一个趋势，就是股票回购、并购等活动，实际上有大量资本在不断回流给股东和现金，所以场外确实有大量资金。但就 David 问题的精神而言，我认为最终你会被衡量，对吧？ It's the in the end the market is a weighing machine, not a popularity machine. 归根结底，市场是称重机，不是人气机。 No one remembers who went first, Google or Yahoo, Lyft or Uber. 没有人记得谁先上市，是 Google 还是 Yahoo，是 Lyft 还是 Uber。 And I say that not because whether I want to be first or second, but I just think it, you know, the the press loves a bit of drama, but in the end, we're going to have to build big, sustainable, durable companies, and fundraising will be a key component of doing exactly that. 我这样说，不是因为我想争第一还是第二，我只是认为，媒体喜欢炒点戏剧性，但最终，我们都得打造规模大、可持续、有韧性的公司，融资将是实现这一目标的关键。 Sarah, breaking news. Sarah，有突发新闻。 Oh my god, so many people coming at me. 天哪，好多人同时来问我。 Hi, Jason. 嗨，Jason。 No, it is it is it is hard balancing four interviewers at the same time. 同时应对四个采访者确实很难平衡。 It's okay. 没关系。 This is my world, by the way. 顺便说，这就是我的日常。 So, I'm good with this. 所以我没问题。 Jason, Jason， Anthropic just uh confidentially filed their S1. Anthropic 刚刚秘密提交了 S-1。 So, does that mean you're third place in terms of the filing? 那是不是意味着你们在申报上排第三了？ It does not mean anything yet because you have to run now the gauntlet of the SEC and who knows how long that takes for anyone. 这不代表任何事，因为现在还要跑完 SEC 的审核流程，谁知道那要花多长时间。 Yeah. 是的。 Is it is there though a benefit to them going forward? 但他们率先申报，对他们有什么好处吗？ And I think unpacking the rivalry with Anthropic is on everybody's minds. 而且我觉得厘清与 Anthropic 的竞争关系，是所有人都很关心的话题。 So just I guess you can't talk too much about IPOs. IPO 的事你大概不能说太多。 So I'll just pivot to Anthropic was far behind and now they've really um 那我就转个话题，Anthropic 原本落后很多，但现在他们真的…… I think everybody would agree in the industry now blown past OpenAI in terms of developers and corporations and it seems revenue. 我觉得业内现在普遍认为，在开发者、企业，以及好像是营收方面，Anthropic 已经超过了 OpenAI。 So did how did that happen at OpenAI when you had such a tremendous lead? 当 OpenAI 拥有那么大的领先优势时，这是怎么发生的？ How did Anthropic blow past you guys? Anthropic 是怎么把你们超过的？ So let's talk a little bit about a strategy. 我们来聊一聊战略吧。 Our strategy is different, right? 我们的战略是不一样的，对吧？ So we are building the AI layer, the infrastructure and it's really important that there's a single foundation but then with many interfaces out into the world. 我们在构建 AI 这一层，这是基础设施，有一个单一的基础非常重要，但要有许多接口通向外部世界。 So chat GPT is one to the consumer. ChatGPT 就是其中一个面向消费者的接口。 Over 900 million people use Chat GPT weekly and it's become the noun and the verb. 每周有超过 9 亿人使用 ChatGPT，它已经成为了一个名词，也成了一个动词。 It's how most people experience um AI for the first time. 大多数人第一次接触 AI，都是通过它。 Kind of fun fact, our economic research team just showed me um the fastest growing continents now are Africa. 有个有意思的数据，我们的经济研究团队刚给我看，增长最快的大洲现在是非洲。 Probably not totally surprising since it started a small base. 这可能不太令人意外，因为它起点低。 fastest growing languages are um Azerbjani and um what Kazakhstani what is it's Kazak um which it's kind of incredible to talk about where it's going so multiple interfaces chatgpt of course there's um codeex um just hit 5 million over the weekend we're really proud of that coming from almost zero in January 5 million users go codeex um help me prepare for this little special up here too um there's of course Frontier our enterprise offering ing and everything every other way that we can get out there to reach businesses of all sizes. 增长最快的语言是阿塞拜疆语，还有哈萨克语，这一点说起来真的挺了不起，说明 AI 在往哪里去。所以我们有多个接口，当然有 ChatGPT，还有 Codex，上周末刚突破了 500 万用户，我们非常自豪，1 月份的时候还几乎是零，500 万用户，Codex 也帮我准备了今天这里的一些内容。当然还有 Frontier，我们的企业产品，以及其他一切我们能覆盖到各种规模企业的方式。 That is a very different strategy. 这是一种截然不同的战略。 We think that because it's served up on one model, there's a compounding element of advantage that comes from that. 我们认为，因为它们都建立在同一个模型上，这会带来复合的竞争优势。 More users, more data, more ability to personalize chats as a front door. 用户越多，数据越多，个性化聊天的能力就越强，这是对外的入口。 As we as models get bigger, there's more efficiency. 随着模型变大，效率也会提升。 That should lower the overall cost to give you a token in the world. 这应该会降低向全球提供 token 的整体成本。 That should compound to higher gross margins, ultimately more ways to pay for compute, and then access to compute is one of the really big competitive advantages at the moment. 这应该会带来更高的毛利率，最终有更多方式来支付算力费用，而现在，获取算力是最重要的竞争优势之一。 So, you know, we have to all run our own races, but we all have to recognize we're part of an ecosystem that also needs to bring people along collectively. 所以我们都要跑好自己的路，但也都必须认识到，我们是一个生态系统的一部分，需要共同把大家带动起来。 Did you spread a little bit too then too many projects? 你们是不是有点摊大饼，项目铺得太多？ People were talking about this new gadget, Sora, and and then maybe not enough focus on enterprise. 大家都在谈那个新产品、Sora，然后也许对企业端关注不够。 Is that a fair assessment of if there was a mistake in the last year that was it? 如果说过去一年有什么失误，那是不是一个公允的评价？ No, I I think that the world loves to go to binaryisms like are you a consumer company Sarah? 不，我认为外界喜欢把事情二元化，比如说你们是消费者公司 Sarah？ Are you an enterprise company? 还是企业公司？ The reality is we're very much both. 现实是我们两者都非常重视。 We're not one or the other. 我们不是非此即彼。 Right now our revenue is getting pretty balanced about 50/50. 目前我们的营收正在趋于均衡，大约各占 50%。 We are incredibly focused on the enterprise. 我们对企业端极度专注。 Like I spend so much of my time with I mean just even in the last week I could tell you I've been to see Thermopisher in Boston. 我花了大量时间，就拿上周来说，我去了波士顿的 Thermo Fisher， I was with a bunch of banks in New York. 在纽约见了一批银行， I was on the phone with travelers on Friday. 周五还和 Travelers 打了电话， I spent this morning on the phone with a tech company. 今天早上和一家科技公司通了电话。 It doesn't matter the vertical. 不管哪个垂直领域都一样。 People are really moving on AI right now. 各行各业现在真的都在大力推进 AI。 Our new head of revenue, Denise Dresser, in seats since December. 我们新任营收负责人 Denise Dresser，12 月上任， She is a force of nature. 她是一股自然之力。 And so I think the enterprise broadly speaking is really firing on all cylinders. 所以我认为从整体来看，企业业务真的已经在全力运转了。 But we don't want to leave the consumer behind. 但我们也不想落下消费者端。 Remember our mission at OpenAI is AGI for the benefit of humanity, not for the benefit of humanity who can pay or for the benefit of humanity who live in an enterprise, but very broadbased. 记住，OpenAI 的使命是为全人类利益服务的 AGI，不是为付得起钱的人，不是为在企业里工作的人，而是非常广泛的覆盖。 Um, it's why we offer so much free because we want people to get a taste. 这就是为什么我们提供这么多免费服务，我们希望让人们先体验一把。 Once they get a taste of intelligence, the ability to come up a commitment curve is incredible. 一旦他们体验过智能，愿意深入投入的能力就会非常惊人。 Our free users do about seven turns, seven questions a day. 我们的免费用户每天大约进行 7 轮对话，问 7 个问题。 Our first paid tier do double that about 15. 我们第一个付费层级的用户，大概翻倍，大约 15 次。 Our our real paid tier the plus 20 bucks. 我们真正的付费层级，也就是 20 美元的 Plus。 Hopefully you're all on it or higher about 3x and pro about um 11x over a free user. 希望你们都在用这个，或者更高的层级，大约是免费用户的 3 倍，Pro 大约是 11 倍。 So remember when you got your flip phone and you're like yeah I don't know what it does make some calls. 想想你刚拿到翻盖手机的时候，你觉得这东西能干什么，就是打个电话。 Now that same phone think of all the things it does for you. 现在同一部手机，想想它能为你做多少事情。 That's the path we're on with intelligence right now. 这就是我们目前在智能领域走的路。 Sorry. 抱歉。 You said something very influential. 你说过一句非常有影响力的话。 I think it was about 18 months ago for a lot of us in the industry where you framed a very simple economic trade-off which was gigawatts to cash and I think you said one gigawatt is roughly equivalent to about $10 billion a year of revenue to open AAI. 大约 18 个月前，对我们行业里很多人来说，你提出了一个非常简洁的经济换算关系，就是算力对应营收。你说大概 1 吉瓦相当于 OpenAI 每年约 100 亿美元的营收。 So common number one was this one gigawatt equals10 billion a year of revenue for you. 所以第一个数字，1 吉瓦等于 100 亿年营收，这是你们的数字。 But it's not just you because you can probably extrapolate that to anthropic and other folks Gemini 但这不仅仅适用于你们，因为你大概可以把这个推及到 Anthropic、Gemini 等其他公司。 but then you were really at the forefront of getting access to power and data centers and powered land. 你们当时真的走在最前面，去抢占电力、数据中心和用电土地的资源。