AI industry warned of looming financial collapse
Anysphere raised prices after infrastructure costs soared, frustrating users already reliant on AI services.
Despite widespread popularity and unprecedented investment, OpenAI may be facing a deepening financial crisis. Since launching ChatGPT, the company has lost billions yearly, including an estimated $5 billion in 2024 alone.
Tech critic Ed Zitron argues that the AI industry is heading towards a ‘subprime AI crisis’, comparing the sector’s inflated valuations and spiralling losses to the subprime mortgage collapse in 2007. Startups like OpenAI and Anthropic continue to operate at huge losses.
Companies relying on AI infrastructure are already feeling the squeeze. Anysphere, which uses Anthropic’s models, recently raised prices sharply, angering users and blaming costs passed down from its infrastructure provider.
To manage exploding demand, OpenAI has also introduced tiered pricing and restricted services for free users, raising concerns that access to AI tools will soon be locked behind expensive paywalls. With 800 million weekly users, any future revenue strategy could alienate a large part of its global base.
Zitron believes these conditions cannot sustain long-term growth and will ultimately damage revenues and public trust. The industry, he warns, may be building its future on unstable ground.
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