OpenAI clinches record $110 billion funding round as ChatGPT slip exposes Chinese

OpenAI’s $110 billion raise comes as the company disclosed a startling internal finding: a Chinese law‑enforcement officer had used ChatGPT to log a covert intimidation campaign against dissidents abroad. CNN Politics reported that the official treated the chatbot like a diary, detailing how agents masqueraded as U.S. immigration officials to warn a U.S.-based Chinese activist that “their public statements had supposedly broken the law.” The same entry described an attempt to forge a U.S. county‑court document to lend credence to the threat, exposing a sophisticated transnational pressure operation that relied on AI‑generated content to amplify its credibility.

The revelation has ignited diplomatic concern. According to the CNN piece, the operation’s scope suggests a coordinated effort by Chinese authorities to leverage generative AI for influence and coercion, a tactic previously unconfirmed in open‑source intelligence. OpenAI’s internal report, which it shared with its investors, flags the incident as a “proof point” of how powerful language models can be weaponized when placed in the hands of state actors, prompting calls for tighter governance of AI access in high‑risk jurisdictions.

Investors appear unfazed by the geopolitical fallout. TechCrunch noted that Amazon committed $50 billion, while Nvidia and SoftBank each pledged $30 billion, valuing OpenAI at $730 billion pre‑money. The round remains open, with OpenAI expecting additional participants as the fundraising proceeds. In its statement, the company framed the capital influx as a catalyst for scaling infrastructure, saying “leadership will be defined by who can scale infrastructure fast enough to meet demand, and turn that capacity into products people rely on.”

Infrastructure partnerships are already taking shape. TechCrunch reported that the Amazon investment will be delivered largely in cloud services, while Nvidia’s contribution will focus on GPU compute power, effectively converting a portion of the cash into hardware and platform credits. These service‑in‑kind deals echo OpenAI’s previous financing structures, where the bulk of the headline amount is realized through long‑term resource commitments rather than liquid cash.

The dual narrative of record‑size funding and a newly exposed state‑backed AI misuse underscores the stakes of the “frontier AI” race. OpenAI’s own briefing warned that the next phase will shift from research to “daily use at global scale,” a transition that will test the company’s ability to safeguard its models while delivering the performance demanded by enterprise customers. If the Chinese intimidation episode is any indication, the pressure to embed robust misuse‑prevention controls will intensify even as the market pours unprecedented capital into the sector.