OpenAI Confidentially Files for IPO on the Heels of SpaceX and Anthropic
OpenAI Confidentially Files for IPO on the Heels of SpaceX and Anthropic
OpenAI 继 SpaceX 和 Anthropic 之后秘密提交 IPO 申请
OpenAI has filed confidential paperwork for an initial public offering, the company announced on Monday, kicking off what could be a monthslong process toward debuting on a US stock exchange. The move makes it the third company to file for what could be a trillion-dollar IPO this year.
OpenAI 周一宣布，公司已秘密提交了首次公开募股（IPO）的相关文件，开启了可能长达数月的美国证券交易所上市进程。此举使其成为今年第三家申请进行万亿美元级 IPO 的公司。
Tech companies pursuing the most powerful AI models, including publicly traded giants Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, and Microsoft, are hungry for tens of billions dollars each to build out more data centers and recruit scientists to grow their services.
包括 Alphabet、亚马逊、Meta 和微软在内的科技巨头，都在竞相开发最强大的 AI 模型，它们急需数百亿美元的资金来建设更多数据中心并招募科学家，以推动其业务增长。
An IPO would be yet another fundraising opportunity for OpenAI after the company privately raised $122 billion in March. Going public, which brings many workers closer to a life-altering payday and increases transparency about a business’ financial health, could also boost employee morale and customer confidence as OpenAI tries to regain its position as the clear front-runner in frontier AI.
继 3 月份完成 1220 亿美元的私募融资后，IPO 将为 OpenAI 提供又一个融资渠道。上市不仅能让许多员工获得改变生活的薪酬，还能提高企业财务状况的透明度，这有助于提振员工士气并增强客户信心，助力 OpenAI 重新确立其在尖端 AI 领域无可争议的领先地位。
OpenAI did not specify timing for the IPO nor how much it plans to raise. “We recently submitted a confidential S-1,” the company said in an unsigned, one-paragraph blog post. “We expect it to leak so we’re just announcing it. We have not decided on timing yet; it may be a while because there are things we want to do that are likely easier as a private company. But it’s a complicated set of tradeoffs and this gives us the option to go public sooner if that ends up being best.”
OpenAI 未透露 IPO 的具体时间表或计划筹集的金额。公司在一篇未署名的简短博文中表示：“我们最近提交了一份保密的 S-1 文件。我们预计消息会泄露，所以干脆直接宣布。我们尚未决定具体时间；可能还需要一段时间，因为有些事情作为私营公司处理起来更容易。但这涉及复杂的权衡，如果最终证明是最佳选择，这也为我们提供了提前上市的选项。”
OpenAI declined to comment further. But by having paperwork ready, the company could draft off a potentially successful debut by Anthropic. If the rival runs into any challenges, OpenAI could hold off and recalibrate.
OpenAI 拒绝进一步置评。但通过提前准备好文件，该公司可以借鉴 Anthropic 可能成功的上市表现。如果竞争对手遇到任何挑战，OpenAI 也可以选择推迟并重新调整策略。
A Three-Way Race
三方竞逐
Anthropic, which was founded in 2021 by former OpenAI employees, filed its confidential IPO paperwork on June 1. Just days before the filing, Anthropic’s latest fundraising brought its valuation to $965 billion, topping OpenAI’s $852 billion mark—both record-breaking figures in the world of tech venture capital. Elon Musk’s SpaceX, which makes rockets, sells satellite internet, and also develops some of the world’s most capable AI models, publicly filed its IPO papers last month.
由 OpenAI 前员工于 2021 年创立的 Anthropic 于 6 月 1 日提交了秘密 IPO 文件。在提交申请的前几天，Anthropic 的最新一轮融资使其估值达到 9650 亿美元，超过了 OpenAI 的 8520 亿美元——这两个数字均创下了科技风险投资领域的纪录。埃隆·马斯克的 SpaceX 公司（业务涵盖火箭制造、卫星互联网以及开发全球最强大的 AI 模型）已于上个月公开提交了 IPO 文件。
The IPOs could value each of these companies at over $1 trillion despite all of them being unprofitable and having roughly 80 percent to 90 percent lower sales than nearly every existing trillion-dollar public company. The only IPO to have broken the $1 trillion mark was oil company Saudi Aramco in 2019.
尽管这些公司目前均处于亏损状态，且销售额比现有的几乎所有万亿美元级上市公司低 80% 到 90%，但这些 IPO 仍可能使它们的估值超过 1 万亿美元。历史上唯一突破 1 万亿美元大关的 IPO 是 2019 年的沙特阿美石油公司。
OpenAI’s revenue from subscriptions, ads, and service fees grew to somewhere between $10 billion and $20 billion last year, according to previous company disclosures. But it spent far more money on cloud computing and thousands of staff, leading to billions of dollars in losses. In recent months, the company has carried out several restructurings due to executive illnesses and an attempt to focus on fewer projects.
根据公司此前的披露，OpenAI 去年来自订阅、广告和服务费的收入增长至 100 亿至 200 亿美元之间。但由于在云计算和数千名员工身上投入了巨额资金，导致公司亏损数十亿美元。近几个月来，由于高管健康问题以及为了专注于更少的核心项目，公司进行了多次重组。
OpenAI executives have debated for months whether the company is prepared to go public, according to two people familiar with the matter but not authorized to discuss confidential information. At one point last year, OpenAI was targeting an IPO in late 2027 or early 2028, according to another person familiar with the discussions.
据两位知情人士透露，OpenAI 高管数月来一直在讨论公司是否已准备好上市。另一位知情人士表示，去年曾有一段时间，OpenAI 将 IPO 目标定在 2027 年底或 2028 年初。
Last week, President Donald Trump said his administration would look into the possibility of the US government taking a stake in AI companies as they go public. OpenAI has discussed the idea for months as a way to broaden public benefits of AI development, according to one of the people familiar with company discussions. An OpenAI blog post coauthored by CEO Sam Altman on Monday said “a good AI future” requires that “many people, companies, communities, and countries can build, benefit, and hold power.”
上周，唐纳德·特朗普总统表示，其政府将研究美国政府在 AI 公司上市时入股的可能性。据知情人士透露，OpenAI 几个月来一直在讨论这一想法，认为这是扩大 AI 发展公共利益的一种方式。周一，由 CEO 山姆·奥特曼（Sam Altman）共同撰写的 OpenAI 博文指出，“美好的 AI 未来”需要“许多人、公司、社区和国家能够共同建设、受益并掌握权力”。
Legal Challenges
法律挑战
In 2019, OpenAI created a for-profit subsidiary to allow it to fundraise vastly more sums than it believed people would be willing to donate. Today, the nonprofit owns roughly 25 percent, or more than $200 billion, of the company. It also has the power to block major business decisions and fire the company’s executives. Undoing the nonprofit is legally challenging.
2019 年，OpenAI 成立了一家营利性子公司，以便筹集远超捐赠所能获得的资金。如今，非营利组织拥有该公司约 25% 的股份，价值超过 2000 亿美元。它还有权否决重大商业决策并解雇公司高管。在法律上，撤销该非营利组织架构极具挑战性。
Recently, OpenAI cleared a major hurdle on the road to its IPO by defeating a lawsuit brought by Musk, which accused the ChatGPT-maker of straying from its nonprofit mission. Musk’s claims were dismissed last month after a federal judge and jury ruled that he filed his lawsuit too late.
最近，OpenAI 击败了马斯克提起的诉讼，扫清了 IPO 道路上的一个重大障碍。马斯克曾指控这家 ChatGPT 开发商背离了其非营利使命。上个月，在联邦法官和陪审团裁定马斯克起诉过晚后，其诉讼请求被驳回。
But OpenAI’s structure is still subject to ongoing scrutiny by California and Delaware state regulators. This month, the California attorney general’s office denied WIRED’s official request for records of recent communications with OpenAI, citing laws shielding investigative and certain other files from public disclosure.
但 OpenAI 的架构仍受到加利福尼亚州和特拉华州监管机构的持续审查。本月，加州总检察长办公室拒绝了《连线》（WIRED）获取其与 OpenAI 近期通讯记录的正式请求，理由是相关法律保护调查文件及其他特定文件免于公开披露。
OpenAI will need the US Securities and Exchange Commission to sign off on the company’s accounting and disclosures of potential risks, which is the confidential process that now begins. The company’s structure could add unusual complexity to the review.
OpenAI 需要美国证券交易委员会（SEC）对其会计核算和潜在风险披露进行审批，这一保密流程现已启动。公司独特的架构可能会给审查过程增加不同寻常的复杂性。
Last month, OpenAI’s chief of global affairs, Chris Lehane, told WIRED that the company will retain its structure after the IPO because, as a public benefit corporation overseen by a nonprofit, it can consider societal impacts of its endeavors without having to prioritize shareholder value above all else.
上个月，OpenAI 全球事务主管克里斯·勒汉（Chris Lehane）告诉《连线》，公司在 IPO 后将保留其架构。因为作为一家由非营利组织监管的公共利益公司，它可以在考虑其业务对社会影响的同时，不必将股东价值置于一切之上。
So far, public advocacy groups have been critical of OpenAI’s work. They blame ChatGPT and other similar chatbots for an epidemic of so-called AI psychosis that has led to suicides and other deadly incidents, while labor experts worry about the potential for catastrophic job loss as AI systems take over manual tasks. How OpenAI addresses these harms of AI in its polished paperwork, which would be publicly released closer to the IPO date, will likely draw significant attention.
到目前为止，公共倡导团体一直对 OpenAI 的工作持批评态度。他们指责 ChatGPT 和其他类似的聊天机器人导致了所谓的“AI 精神错乱”流行，引发了自杀和其他致命事件；而劳工专家则担心，随着 AI 系统接管体力劳动，可能会导致灾难性的失业。OpenAI 将如何在临近 IPO 日期公开的正式文件中处理这些 AI 带来的危害，可能会引起广泛关注。