How Many People Work at OpenAI? Statistics & Facts (2025)

How Many People Work at OpenAI?

As of September 2024, OpenAI employs 3,531 individuals, a significant increase from the 770 employees in November 2023. This growth underscores the company's rapid expansion and rising influence in artificial intelligence.

OpenAI's rapid expansion and rising influence in artificial intelligence are underscored by its growth from 770 employees in November 2023 to 3,531 individuals as of September 2024.

What is OpenAI?

OpenAI is an artificial intelligence research organization founded in December 2015 in San Francisco by Elon Musk, Sam Altman, Greg Brockman, Ilya Sutskever, Wojciech Zaremba, and John Schulman. Initially established as a non-profit, OpenAI aims to ensure that artificial general intelligence (AGI) benefits all of humanity.

Sam Altman and Greg Brockman are the prominent faces leading the organization, with Altman serving as CEO and Brockman as President. Elon Musk was a co-founder and early supporter but stepped down from the board in 2018, although he continues to support the organization.

In 2019, OpenAI transitioned to a "capped-profit" model and entered into a significant partnership with Microsoft, which invested $1 billion to support OpenAI's research and development. This partnership has significantly boosted OpenAI's valuation, reflecting its growing impact and potential in the AI industry. One of OpenAI's most notable achievements is the development of ChatGPT, a state-of-the-art language model that has garnered widespread attention for its conversational abilities. The success of ChatGPT has further enhanced OpenAI's valuation, solidifying its position as a leader in artificial intelligence research and development.

Timeline of OpenAI's Employee Count

Here is a timeline that shows the staff/team count since the companies inception:

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Executive Team at OpenAI

Here is a brief description of each of the employees in the core of OpenAI's workforce:

CEO: Sam Altman

Sam Altman is the CEO of OpenAI and one of its co-founders. He has been with the organization since its inception in 2015. Prior to OpenAI, Altman was the president of Y Combinator, a renowned startup accelerator. His leadership focuses on steering OpenAI towards achieving its goal of ensuring that artificial general intelligence benefits all of humanity.

Chairman: Bret Taylor

Bret Taylor serves as the Chairman of OpenAI. He joined the organization in 2023, bringing a wealth of experience from his previous roles as co-CEO of Salesforce and co-founder of Quip. Taylor's leadership and strategic vision play a crucial role in guiding OpenAI's mission and growth.

President: Greg Brockman

Greg Brockman is the President and co-founder of OpenAI. He has been with the organization since its founding in 2015. Before OpenAI, Brockman was the CTO of Stripe, a leading online payment processing company. At OpenAI, he oversees the technical and operational aspects, driving the development of cutting-edge AI technologies.

CTO: Mira Murati

Mira Murati serves as the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of OpenAI. She joined the organization in 2018 and has been instrumental in leading the development of key projects, including the renowned language model, ChatGPT. Before joining OpenAI, Murati worked at Tesla, where she contributed to the development of the Model X and other innovative technologies.

CFO: Sarah Friar

Sarah Friar is the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of OpenAI. She joined the team in 2022, bringing extensive experience from her previous role as CEO of Nextdoor and CFO of Square. Friar's financial acumen and strategic insights are vital in managing OpenAI's financial health and supporting its ambitious research and development initiatives.

OpenAI Employee Statistics

These are some of the most notable statistics about the personnel at OpenAI:

Where do OpenAI Employees Live?

The largest amount of their employees (87,1%) is based in the US.

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What Positions are the Employees in

An very large amount (33,9%) work in the engineering department of OpenAI.

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Where did OpenAI's Employees Study?

Here are the most common universities OpenAI's employees graduated from.

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What Did OpenAI's Workforce Study?

As most of the employees have engineering positions, most of them naturally studied some kind computer science.

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If you are interested in more OpenAI statistics, make sure to check out our article on how many users ChatGPT has.

OpenAI's Highlights Since Launch

OpenAI has grown to be one of the biggest and most influential companies in the world in just 9 years. Here are some of the most notable moments since they were founded in December 2015.

Founding of OpenAI (2015)

OpenAI was founded in December 2015 in San Francisco by Elon Musk, Sam Altman, Greg Brockman, Ilya Sutskever, Wojciech Zaremba, and John Schulman. The organization was established with the mission to ensure that artificial general intelligence (AGI) benefits all of humanity.

Transition to Capped-Profit Model (2019)

In 2019, OpenAI transitioned from a non-profit to a "capped-profit" model. This change allowed the organization to attract more investment while maintaining its commitment to ethical AI development.

Partnership with Microsoft (2019)

Also in 2019, OpenAI entered into a significant partnership with Microsoft, which invested $1 billion to support OpenAI's research and development. This partnership has been crucial in accelerating OpenAI's growth and technological advancements.

Release of GPT-3 (2020)

In June 2020, OpenAI released GPT-3, the third generation of its Generative Pre-trained Transformer language model. GPT-3 garnered widespread attention for its advanced natural language processing capabilities, setting a new standard in AI language models.

Key Revenue Milestone (2021)

In 2021, OpenAI achieved a key revenue milestone by generating over $100 million in annual recurring revenue. This milestone highlighted the commercial viability and growing demand for OpenAI's AI technologies.

Launch of ChatGPT (2022)

In 2022, OpenAI launched ChatGPT, a state-of-the-art conversational AI model. ChatGPT quickly became one of the most popular AI tools, demonstrating OpenAI's leadership in the field of artificial intelligence.

Expansion of Workforce (2024)

By September 2024, OpenAI's workforce had expanded to 3,531 employees, a significant increase from the 770 employees in November 2023. This growth underscores the company's rapid expansion and rising influence in artificial intelligence.