SAN FRANCISCO — Five weeks ago, OpenAI, a San Francisco artificial intelligence lab, released ChatGPT, a chatbot that answers questions in clear, concise prose. The AI-powered tool immediately caused a sensation, with more than 1 million people using it to create everything from poetry to high school term papers to rewrites of Queen songs.
Now OpenAI is in the midst of a new gold rush.
The lab is in talks to complete a deal that would value it at around $29 billion, more than twice its valuation in 2021, two people with knowledge of the discussions said. The potential deal — where OpenAI would sell existing company shares in a