AI Minister Kanishka Narayan suggested in a podcast interview that the AI giant’s finances are to blame for the decision.
Joseph Bambridge
“What has changed is, as is well publicized, OpenAI’s internal financing context has become more challenging and they have made similar calls in the United States with their program there as well,” he said.
“So companies get in trouble, companies have challenges and financing commitments they’ve made,” he said.
OpenAI declined to comment. Two weeks ago the company raised $122 billion, giving it a valuation of $852 billion. The FT recently reported that some investors have expressed misgivings about the company’s decisions as it seeks to stave off competition, although OpenAI denied that investors are unsupportive of its strategy.
Chi Onwurah, a Labour MP and chair of the U.K. parliament’s Science, Innovation and Technology Committee, last week said OpenAI’s decision should be viewed in light of the “wider AI picture globally.”
“There are certainly some problems in the OpenAI business model,” she told BBC Radio 4.
The government needs to address high energy costs, but “our energy costs, which are higher, aren’t more higher than they were back in September when this announcement was made,” she added.
