OpenAI is an American artificial intelligence (AI) research company based in San Francisco, founded in 2015. It started as a non-profit with a mission to ensure that artificial general intelligence benefits all of humanity. Today, OpenAI is one of the most influential AI companies in the world, as it’s known for artificial generative intelligence (AGI) tools like ChatGPT, GPT-4o, DALL·E, and Sora. These platforms are used by millions of individuals, developers, and businesses globally.

What is OpenAI?

OpenAI is an AI company focused on building safe and powerful AI systems through rigorous AI research. It was founded in 2015 by Sam Altman, Greg Brockman, and others, including Elon Musk, who later left the board.

The company built ChatGPT, the most widely used AI assistant in the world, along with a growing suite of AI tools, including DALL·E for image generation and Sora for videos. OpenAI has made it its mission to ensure AI development remains safe and beneficial for everyone. Because of this, it sits at the center of the global conversation on where AI technology is headed.

OpenAI's AI models, products, and tools

OpenAI's products include some of the most widely used AI tools available today. Each platform targets a different use case, including creative work, code generation, and enterprise automation.

Here are six products that OpenAI has built:

1. ChatGPT

ChatGPT is OpenAI's flagship consumer product and the most widely used AI assistant in the world. With over 800 million weekly users, it runs on OpenAI's latest models, including GPT-4, GPT-4o, and GPT-5, each one more capable than the last.

2. OpenAI API

OpenAI’s application programming interface (API) lets businesses and developers integrate its advanced AI models directly into their own apps and services.

3. DALL·E

This is the company’s AI image generation tool that creates visuals from text prompts. As of late 2025, DALL-E is reported to have more than 900 million weekly users.

4. Whisper

This tool is a speech recognition model that transcribes spoken audio into written text across multiple languages. It even translates non-English speech into English.

5. Sora

This platform is OpenAI's video and audio generation model. It creates realistic videos from text prompts or images, complete with sound effects, dialogue, and motion.

6. Assistants API

This is a developer tool used by developers to build AI-powered workflows and automated task management.

Difference between ChatGPT-3, ChatGPT-4, and ChatGPT-5

The GPT models are the technology behind ChatGPT, and each new version brought bigger changes in what AI could do.

Here are how these three versions stack up:

GPT-3

OpenAI released GPT-3 in 2020, and it was one of the first large language models (LLMs) to show just how powerful AI could be. It could write, answer questions, and generate code in a way that felt surprisingly human. For its time, it was a massive leap forward in natural language processing (NLP) and set the foundation for everything that came after.

GPT-4

Released in 2023, GPT-4 was a significant step up in reasoning, accuracy, and reliability. It introduced the ability to process images alongside text, a first for the GPT series, using advanced machine learning (ML) techniques. It also made noticeably fewer mistakes than GPT-3, making it far more useful for real-world tasks.

GPT-5

OpenAI released GPT-5 in August 2025, and it's considered as its most significant leap yet in AI capability. It combines reasoning, multimodal input, and agentic capabilities into one unified system. That said, it can think through complex problems, process multiple types of data, and take actions on your behalf. For most users, GPT-5 is the clearest sign yet of where AI technology is headed.

ChatGPT vs Claude vs Gemini: Which AI model is right for you?

While all three are powered by NLP, they differ in focus, strengths, and the types of tasks at hand. Here's a quick explanation that will help you determine which is ideal for your needs:

ChatGPT

OpenAI’s ChatGPT is the most versatile AI model available today. It’s strong at writing, coding, research, and agentic tasks. It has web search and tool-use built directly into GPT-5, which makes it useful for different daily and professional tasks. For most users, it's the safest starting point given the depth of its AI tools and the sheer size of its user base.

Claude

Built by Anthropic, Claude is known for being more careful and measured in how it responds. It has a strong focus on AI safety and handles nuanced, sensitive, or complex topics better than most. Claude is a solid choice for tasks that require better accuracy, caution, and thoughtfulness.

Gemini

Google's AI model, Gemini, has an edge if you’re looking for work that focuses on Google ecosystem integration. It connects seamlessly with Search, Docs, and Gmail, making it a practical fit for everyday productivity within Google Workspace.

ChatGPT's free plans and paid upgrades

ChatGPT's free plan is available to everyone, no credit card or subscription needed. It also gives you access to GPT-5 with daily usage limits, making it a solid starting point for casual users.

For those who need more, ChatGPT’s paid plans have these options:

• ChatGPT Plus ($20/month): The most popular paid plan and the sweet spot for most individual users. It unlocks advanced reasoning with GPT-5, expanded messaging and uploads, faster image creation, deep research, agent mode, and limited access to Sora video generation.
• ChatGPT Pro ($200/month): Built for power users who need the highest level of performance without restrictions. It unlocks GPT-5 Pro with extended reasoning and broader tool-calling, triples file quotas, pushes the context window to 256k tokens, and grants priority access for lower latency.
• ChatGPT Business ($25/user/month – annual; $30/user/month – monthly): Designed for small teams and growing businesses, with a minimum of two users. It builds on Plus by adding a shared workspace, a team admin console, higher message caps on GPT-5, and ensures your business data isn't used for training by default.
• ChatGPT Enterprise (custom pricing): The top-tier plan for large organizations with strict security and compliance needs. It includes everything in the Business plan, plus enterprise-level security like SAML SSO, a detailed admin console with usage stats, unlimited use, and dedicated support.

FAQs:

What type of AI is ChatGPT?

ChatGPT is a large language model, an AI system trained on vast amounts of data to understand and generate human-like responses. It's built on the generative pre-trained transformer (GPT) architecture, a form of machine learning developed by OpenAI that uses natural language processing at its core.

Unlike a search engine, it doesn't look things up. Instead, it generates responses based on patterns learned from training data, in a way that loosely mirrors how the human brain processes language. The latest versions are multimodal, meaning they can process images, audio, and documents alongside text. It's best understood as a conversational AI tool that can write or reason, generate code, and deliver insights on demand.

How does OpenAI ensure safe and beneficial AGI?

OpenAI's mission and commitment center on making sure that artificial general intelligence delivers benefits to all of humanity and doesn't become a threat to society. The company invests heavily in AI research and safety, including a team of researchers focused on 'Superalignment,' using ML and reinforcement learning to align powerful AI systems with human values at scale.

They also practice red-teaming, where internal teams try to break AI models before release to catch risks early, with transparency in how those findings shape future development. External evaluations and staged rollouts are part of every deployment process.

Despite criticism that commercial pressures sometimes conflict with safety, OpenAI remains one of the few AI companies with a structured, public safety program.

What makes ChatGPT different from Grok, Anthropic, and Gemini?

All four are powerful AI assistants, but they're built with different strengths, personalities, and use cases in mind. Here's how these platforms compare to each other:

ChatGPT

ChatGPT is the most widely used AI assistant in the world, backed by years of AI research and continuous innovation. It's versatile — strong at writing, coding, research, and complex problem solving. Its biggest advantage is the broad ecosystem of AI tools built around it, which keeps getting bigger as its user base grows.

Grok

Built by xAI, Grok pulls real-time data directly from X (formerly Twitter), giving it a live pulse on breaking news and trending topics. It has a more edgy, unfiltered personality compared to other AI assistants. It's a strong pick for users who want fast, raw, real-time information without a heavily filtered response.

Claude

Anthropic built Claude with a strong focus on AI safety, nuance, and careful handling of sensitive topics. It tends to be more measured and thoughtful in how it responds — especially when conversations get complex or delicate. It's a solid choice for users who prioritize accuracy and caution over speed.

Gemini

Google's AI model integrates directly with Search, Drive, and Docs, making it a natural fit for anyone already working inside Google Workspace. It's practical and productive. If your daily workflow runs on Google tools, Gemini will feel the most seamless of the four.

Is OpenAI still a non-profit?

Not exactly. OpenAI started as a non-profit in 2015 but created a capped-profit subsidiary in 2019 to attract investors. In 2025, it announced plans to restructure further into a public benefit corporation (PBC), allowing it to raise traditional investment capital while remaining legally bound to consider public benefit alongside profit.

The original non-profit entity still exists and retains oversight responsibilities. It's a complicated structure, and one that has drawn criticism from those who believe commercial incentives could eventually override the safety mission.

How is OpenAI addressing AI sycophancy?

AI sycophancy is when a model agrees with users too easily by validating bad ideas, skipping pushback, and telling people what they want to hear rather than what's accurate. OpenAI acknowledged this as a real problem after complaints that some updates made ChatGPT feel overly flattering and less useful.

The company has stated it's actively training models to push back more, offer critical feedback, and resist going along with whatever the user says. Balancing helpfulness with honesty is harder than it sounds, as agreeable responses often score higher in user ratings, which can reinforce sycophantic behavior during training. It's an ongoing challenge across the entire AI industry, not just at OpenAI.