Business Approach of OpenAI Clarified
In the ever-evolving world of artificial intelligence (AI), OpenAI continues to make waves as a leading company in research and development. Founded in 2015, the company has been at the forefront of AI innovation for over half a decade.
OpenAI has not been acquired by Google, contrary to some rumours. Instead, it has entered into a strategic partnership with Google Cloud in mid-2025. This partnership aims to expand OpenAI's AI infrastructure capabilities, diversify cloud providers beyond Microsoft Azure, and scale global AI compute capacity by utilising Google’s TPU chips and data centers.
Under this partnership, OpenAI will rent Google Cloud’s Tensor Processing Units (TPUs) for AI model training and inference, reducing reliance on Nvidia GPUs and Microsoft Azure. The collaboration also extends to sovereign cloud regions, GPU scaling, multi-cloud resilience, and sustainable infrastructure.
As an independent company, OpenAI's AI-driven business model remains focused on monetizing AI services, securing government contracts, investing in social impact projects, and expanding into new AI hardware devices. The company has monetized its services through enterprise and consumer subscriptions, and has secured significant contracts, such as a $200 million DoD AI contract and strategic partnerships with public sectors like the UK Government.
OpenAI has also invested $50 million in a fund for AI-driven social impact projects and made acquisitions, such as the 2025 purchase of a startup led by Jony Ive for developing consumer hardware.
Meanwhile, Google DeepMind is independently hiring talent and licensing technology from AI startups, such as Windsurf, in a competitive market.
OpenAI's notable projects include DALL-E, a neural network that generates images from text, and GPT-5, a language model with over 1 trillion parameters, released in 2024. These technologies have found applications in healthcare, education, and finance from 2024-2025.
In education, OpenAI's personalised learning algorithms have been implemented in virtual tutoring, resulting in measurable improvements in student performance. In healthcare, GPT-5 has been used to analyse medical records and assist in rare disease diagnosis. In finance, banks have employed OpenAI's fraud detection models to reduce fraudulent transactions.
OpenAI's mission is to promote and develop friendly AI that benefits humanity. To this end, the company prioritises ethical considerations like transparency and fairness in AI implementations. It also fosters a data-driven culture to support AI initiatives.
For businesses looking to leverage AI in 2025, they can explore licensing OpenAI's technologies, invest in hiring AI experts, and stay informed on AI research and industry trends. It is crucial to identify specific use cases where AI could most benefit your business.
As OpenAI continues to innovate and expand, its success has spurred increased AI investment and interest. With Google's backing, OpenAI is likely to remain an AI pioneer in the years to come. However, it must work with policymakers, ethicists, and others to ensure its AI systems remain safe and beneficial to society.
- The strategic partnership between OpenAI and Google Cloud in 2025 aims to use Google’s TPU chips and data centers to expand OpenAI's AI infrastructure capabilities.
- OpenAI monetizes its AI services through enterprise and consumer subscriptions, and has secured significant contracts, such as a $200 million DoD AI contract.
- In education, OpenAI's personalized learning algorithms have been implemented in virtual tutoring, resulting in measurable improvements in student performance.
- In healthcare, GPT-5 has been used to analyze medical records and assist in rare disease diagnosis.
- In finance, banks have employed OpenAI’s fraud detection models to reduce fraudulent transactions.
- Google DeepMind is independently hiring talent and licensing technology from AI startups, like Windsurf.
- For businesses looking to leverage AI in 2025, they can explore licensing OpenAI’s technologies, invest in hiring AI experts, and stay informed on AI research and industry trends.