For the past two years, OpenAI has been able to command an investment premium in part because it was the first thing that people thought of when it came to large language models.

The OpenAI can show investors that a large group of people are willing to pay a recurring subscription fee for their services, it is a good indication that there may be a path to profitability in the future.

Big investors can keep justifying the money they spend on OpenAI AI so long as their investors see the potential for the technology, or at the very least see the opportunity for the hype to generate some a return on their investment as they sell their stake off to the next person in line.

The case for OpenAI can continue to be justified to mega investors if it maintains extremely strong user growth, demonstrates customer retention, and remains a viable contender for developing genuinely world-changing super intelligence.