What’s really behind the TBPN-OpenAI deal?

^{A week in AI is like a year in other industries. I hope these issues become your weekly source of AI information, inspiration, and ideas. If we haven’t met before, I’m Amanda Smith. I write about AI and the fascinating folks who are building in this brave new world.}

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The poster boy of AI seems to be following in the footsteps of folks like Zuck. We wrote about how AI has a PR problem right now, with Altman himself the victim of an attack. 

Much like Zuck, Altman is a polarizing figure who backpedaled on promises of never monetizing eyeballs in the chatbot, while getting in bed with the U.S. military. 

So then, what’s the deal with the big TBPN Network purchase? 

Is Altman following the playbook set out by other billionaires? Bezos owns the Washington Post. Musk owns Twitter/X. It’s not that far-reaching for Altman to go after the tech news podcast that hosts leaders like (and including) him. 

The 2024 United States presidential election was coined the podcast election, so it’s no surprise that Altman wants to occupy his big slice of creator-driven media. 

Here’s what Altman said in an X post earlier this month: “TBPN is my favorite tech show. We want them to keep that going and for them to do what they do so well. I don't expect them to go any easier on us, am sure I'll do my part to help enable that with occasional stupid decisions.” 

OpenAI acquired 100% of TBPN for $100 million. The AI giant has not disclosed the terms of the deal but TBPN will be housed within its strategy organization, according to CNBC. 

What’s fascinating about the deal is how new the TBPN network is, with a modest YouTube subscriber size of 97,200 as of April 23. Yet, it’s on track to eclipse $30 million in revenue this year, with big name sponsorships and an exclusive partnership with the NYSE. 

According to a New York Times article, TBPN treats Silicon Valley gossip and executive moves like a fantasy football league – gamifying tech and business news in a way we hadn’t seen before. 

In the OpenAI statement about the acquisition, TBPN’s marketing and comms chops were mentioned more than once. 

Well known investor, Anthony Pompliano, said it was the founders that OpenAI wanted to acquire. TBPN no longer sells ads or sponsorships, shifting from being independent media to an OpenAI-owned media channel. 

Pompliano said OpenAI needs users to pay for high compute costs, yet they need to make AI less scary. 

“OpenAI just pulled off one of the best talent acquisitions in a long time. The money was merely the price it would take for the team to give up their neutral position in the ecosystem and point their talent behind a single company,” he said. 

“OpenAI wanted the people. TBPN was just the vessel to effectuate the transaction. And the money was the market clearing price to pull off a blockbuster trade for first round draft pick talent,” Pompliano concluded. 

ChatGPT has 900 million weekly users, but 95% don’t pay anything to use the tool. It’s a compute-hungry product and reports predict a $14 billion loss in 2026. This isn’t just an OpenAI problem. Other AI players like Anthropic aren’t profitable. 

The real question here is when (or whether) these AI companies will become profitable, and what the true cost of accessibility will look like in the coming years. As one Reddit comment said, there’s only three options for tech companies: Charging more, advertising, and government contracts. The potential for misuse and abuse here are astronomical. 

We mustn’t repeat the same issues with social media and the internet in general. 

Marketing AI will certainly require a different playbook, as we’ve seen with TBPN. The landscape is about to get a lot more interesting.

If one of these stories stuck with you, I’d love to hear which one.

Speak soon,
Amanda

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