OpenAI

OpenAI upended the tech industry with ChatGPT's launch in November 2022 — the fastest product to reach 100 million users in history (2 months vs. Instagram's 2.5 years). The company's latest model, GPT-4o, powers over 200 million weekly active users and thousands of API customers. At a $157B valuation after its 2024 funding round (backed by Microsoft's $13B investment), it is history's most valuable AI startup. CEO Sam Altman's vision for artificial general intelligence (AGI) has made him one of the most influential figures in technology, featured in the '60 Minutes' segment "The Godfather of AI" and on the cover of Time magazine.