What company’s past reveals the future of OpenAI?

OpenAI has, in a very short time, catapulted itself from a small operation tinkering in a speculative and math-heavy field to a household name that’s been compared favorably to some of the most lucrative blue-chip companies in the history of American commerce.

This fast trajectory has made the company itself the topic of fascination and speculation, with the ultimate power of its technology, and the ultimate value of its business, the subject of endless discussion and debate. Contemplating the future of AI in general and OpenAI in particular isn’t just a Silicon Valley parlor game but national watercooler chatter. OpenAI is the next Google, some cry — it’ll change the way we use the internet! Others warn it’s the next FTX, an over-hyped scam led by a charismatic founder that’ll go to zero.

Here at Sherwood we wanted to consider the many paths that lay ahead for OpenAI, and we’ve assembled an all-star crew of writers who make their case for what they argue is OpenAI's future. Some see huge returns, others serious peril. In some cases, the tech is transformative on a scale that today we have difficulty even imagining; in others, you’ll hear about a rather boring but extremely lucrative business. And then there’s Taco Bell.

Let the arguments begin:

• OpenAI is Visa by Taylor Lorenz

• OpenAI is bitcoin by Crystal Kim

• OpenAI is Uber by Max Knoblauch

• OpenAI is Lyft by J. Edward Moreno

• OpenAI is Adobe by Sophia Smith Galer

• OpenAI is Pixar by Jon Keegan

• OpenAI is Intel by Jeff Wise

• OpenAI is IBM by Jack Raines

• OpenAI is Microsoft by Ryan Broderick & Adam Bumas

• OpenAI is Salesforce by Rani Molla

• OpenAI is Napster by Jamie Wilde

• OpenAI is Taco Bell by Adam Chandler

• OpenAI is Lehman Bros. by Ed Zitron

OpenAI did not respond to a request for comment on the series from Sherwood News.