Andrew Martonik / Digital Trends

OpenAI has now emerged as one of the wealthiest private companies on Earth after successfully securing a whopping $6.6 billion in its latest funding round with a valuation of an astonishing $157 billion. “Every week, over 250 million people around the world utilize ChatGPT to enhance their work, boost their creativity, and enhance their learning,” the company stated in its announcement post. “This new funding will enable us to redouble our efforts in leading the frontier AI research, enhance our computing capacity, and continue to develop tools that assist people in tackling difficult problems.”

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Existing backers like Thrive Capital, Khosla Ventures, and Microsoft were joined by new entrants SoftBank and Nvidia. Apple, which had previously been in discussions to invest, backed out earlier this week.

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The news of this funding arrives as OpenAI contemplates restructuring its core business from a nonprofit to a for-profit model in an attempt to become more appealing to investors. “We continue to prioritize building AI that benefits everyone, and we are working with our board to ensure that we are optimally positioned to achieve our mission. The nonprofit aspect is fundamental to our mission and will always exist,” an OpenAI spokesperson informed Reuters at the time.

This investment round also coincides with OpenAI’s struggle to retain top talent. Since last November, when the nonprofit board of directors of OpenAI unsuccessfully attempted to oust CEO Sam Altman from the company, a steady stream of researchers, founders, and C-suite executives have resigned. Researchers Jan Leike and Ilya Sutskever both left in May, in protest of the company’s disregard of safety guidelines in favor of promoting “shiny products.” Chief technology officer Mira Murati tendered her resignation in late September, and research officer Bob McGrew and senior research executive Barret Zoph quickly followed suit.

According to a report from Reuters, OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar informed employees that the company will offer to buy back their shares at the new valuation. Some employees were allowed to cash out their shares earlier this year at OpenAI’s previous valuation of $86 billion. As part of the proposed restructuring plan, Altman could potentially receive as much as $150 billion in equity, making him one of the richest individuals on the planet.