Is OpenAI doomed? Open-source models may crush it, warns expert

ZDNET OpenAI, which is losing billions of dollars, may struggle in the new landscape of top generative artificial intelligence programs, according to a noted AI scholar. "The issue isn't really whose [AI] model is 1% better; I think they're all very good," said AI scholar and entrepreneur Kai-Fu Lee in an interview on Bloomberg Television Thursday morning. "The issue is: Is OpenAI's [business] model even sustainable?" Harder to compete Lee said as AI "foundation," or "pioneer" models, such as OpenAI's GPT, become commodities, it becomes harder for OpenAI to compete with the cheaper economics presented by DeepSeek AI. Also: What is DeepSeek AI? Is it safe? Here's everything you need to know "You're spending $7 billion or $8 billion a year, making a massive loss, and here you have a competitor coming in with an open-source model that's for free," said Lee, comparing OpenAI's financials with those of DeepSeek AI. "If you think about OpenAI's cost of $7 billion of operating costs, i ... Read full article.