OpenAI is getting squeezed from every direction, and the pressure is beginning to show.
Speaking at the India AI Impact Summit in New Delhi on Thursday, Sam Altman told CNBC that Chinese tech firms’ progress across the AI stack is “remarkable.”
It was a striking concession from the head of a company that is now reportedly closing a further $100 billion round at an $830 billion valuation, and forecasts a $14 billion loss in 2026.
The Price War Is Already Here
Chinese firm Zhipu AI charges around $3 a month for AI access, while OpenAI charges $20 for ChatGPT Plus.
On the developer API, DeepSeek prices its flagship model at $0.28 per million input tokens versus OpenAI’s $1.75, a 95% gap for comparable performance.
Zhipu’s chairman has said publicly that U.S. firms will eventually be forced into the same profit-killing price competition Chinese companies already face.
The FT reported this week that as the technology gap narrows, the price of AI may soon be set by the cheapest model that is good enough, not the best one.
OpenAI Is Losing The Model Race
Polymarket traders give OpenAI just a 2% chance of holding the top-ranking AI model by February 28. Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL), with their flagship Gemini model is in the lead at 52% and Anthropic a close second at 42%
Polymarket traders give an 87% chance that Google’s Gemini 3.5 model will be released before June 30, which could cement Google’s lead even further.
The Pressure May Be Getting To Altman
When Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi raised arms with assembled AI leaders for a group photo, Altman and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, standing side by side, refused to hold hands creating an awkward photo that went viral immediately.
It reflects a rivalry that has turned ugly. Last month Anthropic ran Super Bowl ads mocking OpenAI’s plan to introduce advertising. Altman called them “clearly dishonest.”
OpenAI is reportedly targeting an IPO later this year, Polymarket traders put the odds of that happening at 52%.
This could be a difficult IPO. The company remains unprofitable, and their best model lies far down the list of best models, behind competitors like Google, Anthropic and Grok.
Altman confirmed in New Delhi that ads are coming to ChatGPT. Plans are at an early stage, but with a price war brewing, ad revenue could be OpenAI’s vital path to profitability.
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