AedelonA $20/month user costs OpenAI $65 in compute. AI video is a money furnace
https://aedelon777.substack.com/p/i-did-the-math-on-sora-ai-video-is
The title is misleading. It should be read as “Some $20/month users who made videos on Sora costed OpenAI $65 in compute.”
OpenAI is most definitely in a position to be profitable. They are spending less than a third of their revenue on compute (all infrastructure costs combined).
Yeah fair, the $65 is for someone cranking out 50 clips/month. Most users were probably doing 5-10, so more like $6.50-$13 in compute. That's fine at $20/month.
Doesn't change the bigger picture much though. OpenAI's at $25B annualized revenue and still projecting $14B in losses for 2026. Sora wasn't the only problem, just the most obvious one.