Every provider of AI as a service (AaaS), including OpenAI, has no choice but to spend money like a drunken sailor who recently touched land after being out at sea for a year.
The reckless spending is not fueled only by hype and FOMO. Customer switching costs are low or non-existent, so AaaS businesses can only charge as much as their most reckless competitor.
Speaking of which, all competitors in this space, being in the same position, are vying for the title of most reckless, to avoid losing out to the others.
As I understand it, none of these AaaS businesses can generate enough revenue to cover the cost of R&D, training, inference, or even, as we now know, employee compensation.
Everyone in this space is throwing cash into a giant bonfire.