Sam Altman Touts ChatGPT Growth as OpenAI Nears $100B Round

OpenAI Chief Executive Sam Altman told employees that the company’s flagship AI chatbot, ChatGPT, has returned to strong growth and highlighted progress across product lines as OpenAI moves closer to securing a potential $100 billion funding round, according to a report by Reuters. The comments come amid intensifying competition in generative AI and ongoing fundraising talks involving major investors and technology partners.

In an internal message reviewed by CNBC, Altman said that ChatGPT’s monthly user growth has climbed back above 10 %, following renewed adoption and engagement after periodic slowdowns. The company now estimates that more than 800 million users access ChatGPT weekly, a figure that underscores the platform’s resurgence in usage and its centrality to OpenAI’s business strategy.

Altman also highlighted notable increases in usage of OpenAI’s Codex coding assistant, which reportedly grew by roughly 50 % in weekly active users after the launch of a new model iteration geared toward developers and enterprise customers. The growth in both ChatGPT and Codex usage has helped reinforce investor confidence in OpenAI’s product-market fit amid an increasingly competitive AI landscape. 

The update arrives as OpenAI is reportedly in advanced discussions with potential backers to raise up to $100 billion in new financing, a round that could value the company at roughly $830 billion. Earlier reports have indicated that Nvidia, Amazon and SoftBank among other major technology and investment firms are exploring commitments as part of the funding push, which would be one of the largest private technology financings in history.

Industry watchers note that the fundraising momentum aligns with OpenAI’s broader growth narrative and its drive to expand compute infrastructure, accelerate model development and broaden commercial deployment of its AI tools into enterprise and consumer markets. The company’s latest moves follow earlier funding rounds that propelled its valuation past $300 billion, led by SoftBank and other strategic partners in 2025. 

Internal sources say Altman’s communication with staff also touched on the testing of limited advertising within ChatGPT, part of OpenAI’s effort to diversify revenue streams while keeping core features free for users. ChatGPT ads are expected to be clearly labelled and designed not to influence the model’s output, the company has previously indicated in its approach to advertising and access strategy. 

The rapid growth in user engagement comes as OpenAI faces competitive pressure from rivals such as Google’s generative AI offerings and Anthropic’s Claude models, which have also reported significant enterprise adoption. Last week, OpenAI’s cloud rival Nvidia reaffirmed its support for OpenAI’s upcoming funding round and potential future public offering, signalling broader industry confidence despite ongoing discussions and technical negotiations involving chip supply and infrastructure. 

Some analysts see the $100 billion funding target not only as a capital injection but also a strategic signal that investors view AI as a multi-year growth category requiring unprecedented levels of investment in computing power and specialised hardware. A successful round of this scale could underpin further expansion of data centres, development of more advanced models and deeper integration of AI into enterprise and consumer ecosystems. 

However, fundraising efforts also carry scrutiny around sustainability and future profitability, with some market watchers cautioning that high valuation expectations must eventually be matched by robust monetization strategies, especially as infrastructure and model costs continue to grow.

Altman’s remarks and the reported fundraising progress provide an early glimpse into OpenAI’s strategy for 2026, with a renewed focus on user growth, platform monetization and product innovation as the company navigates a changing competitive landscape and increasing demands for advanced AI capabilities.