OpenAI, Musk and Focus

OpenAI has decided the “everything everywhere all at once” strategy isn’t ideal, after all. As we and others reported on Monday night, senior OpenAI executive Fidji Simo told staffers last week that the company needed to “refocus on business customers and cut down on side quests that were becoming a distraction.” (Is that the understatement of the year?) That refocusing has already begun. A couple of weeks ago, we broke news that OpenAI had retreated from its plans to offer shopping directly in the ChatGPT app. 

Simo’s comments raised questions about what—among the myriad projects OpenAI has announced or is working on—it might abandon next. (OpenAI CEO Sam Altman was quick to squelch rumors that the company might shutter its hardware operation.) Here’s a question, though: How much will OpenAI’s somewhat chaotic approach to management matter to investors when the company eventually goes public? After all, if you compare OpenAI to an Elon Musk company, Altman seems to be presiding over an oasis of calm!