OpenAI, the artificial intelligence (AI) firm behind ChatGPT, has surpassed rival Anthropic, the startup behind the Claude models, in quarterly revenue. The firm pulled in a massive $5.7 billion in the first quarter of 2026, beating Anthropic’s $4.8 billion by roughly $1 billion. However, that win came at a high cost. With ChatGPT user growth stalling and AI costs spiraling, OpenAI recorded billions of dollars in losses even as it topped the revenue leaderboard.Meet Samuel – Your Personal Investing ProphetStart a conversation with TipRanks’ trusted, data-backed investment intelligence
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OpenAI Revenue Growth Fails to Ease Losses
OpenAI’s Q1 performance was driven by its coding agent Codex, rising enterprise sales, and early ad tests on ChatGPT. However, the firm’s broader financial picture remains under pressure.
ChatGPT user growth stalled at an average of about 905 million weekly active users in Q1. At the same time, OpenAI lost $1.22 for every $1 it earned, even before major costs such as stock-based pay were included. Paying subscribers also rose to 55 million, up from 47 million at the end of 2025. However, that increase was too little to offset the firm’s losses.
