OpenAI Trails Anthropic In Q2 Revenue As Growth Slows And Losses Deepen

OpenAI recorded slower revenue growth and widening losses in the second quarter, while rival Anthropic more than doubled its sales and moved into a small operating profit, highlighting a sharp shift in the competition between the two artificial intelligence companies.

The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported that OpenAI told investors that its revenue increased 18% sequentially to $6.7 billion in the three months ended June, compared with $5.7 billion in the first quarter.

However, some investors had expected stronger growth as the company seeks to close the gap with Anthropic and prepares for a closely watched initial public offering.

Anthropic, meanwhile, more than doubled its revenue during the same period to $11.6 billion, surpassing OpenAI in sales for the first time, as per WSJ.

The company also posted a small operating profit, although the precise methodology used to calculate its adjusted profit was not clear. Anthropic has previously excluded stock-based compensation from such calculations, the report said.

OpenAI Losses Widen As Concerns Mount

OpenAI’s operating loss, including stock-based compensation, widened to $12.3 billion in the second quarter from $9.3 billion in the January-March period, as per the WSJ report.

The increase in losses outpaced the company's revenue growth, pushing it further away from profitability.

OpenAI told investors that growth accelerated after it launched new models in July, as per WSJ.

The contrasting results reflect how quickly the AI market has evolved since the start of the year.

Anthropic's momentum was attributed to the popularity of its coding product, Claude Code, while OpenAI has faced a slowdown in ChatGPT's growth, the report added.

OpenAI has also subsidised its large base of non-paying ChatGPT users and reduced prices for two newer models as corporate customers became more cautious about spending on AI tools.

Some businesses have also shifted certain workloads towards lower-cost AI systems developed in China, as per WSJ.

Leadership Changes And New Products

The company has sought to revive growth through new products and organisational changes. OpenAI recently replaced chief revenue officer Denise Dresser after less than a year in the role, following other senior departures, including former chief operating officer Brad Lightcap and Fidji Simo.

It has also introduced a “super app” combining its coding tool Codex with ChatGPT and a web browser. Co-founder and President Greg Brockman has taken a more active role in overseeing product and business functions.

OpenAI has also paused work on some new models while expanding monitoring of its AI systems following testing involving its autonomous agents, or “agents”.

For OpenAI, the pressure is particularly high given the scale of computing commitments it has made and the ambitious revenue growth expectations tied to those deals.