OpenAI to focus on 'practical adoption' in 2026, says finance chief Sarah Friar

OpenAI is set to make 2026 its year of "practical adoption," according to the artificial intelligence startup's finance chief. The priority is bridging the gap between what AI now makes possible and how people, companies, and countries are using it day to day.

"The opportunity is large and immediate, especially in health, science, and enterprise, where better intelligence translates directly into better outcomes," wrote OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar in a blog post on Sunday.

Friar outlined how OpenAI views its strategy for driving monetization of its services, like ChatGPT, while securing the compute necessary to power those products. She stated that the AI lab's revenue directly tracks with the availability of its technical infrastructure. OpenAI's compute grew from 0.2 gigawatts in 2023 to about 1.9 GW in 2025, while the company's annual revenue run rate grew similarly from $2 billion in 2023 to more than $20 billion last year.

"This is never-before-seen growth at such scale," she wrote. "And we firmly believe that more compute in these periods would have led to faster customer adoption and monetization."

Friar's blog comes as OpenAI and the tech industry's focus on AI faces scrutiny over the massive investments required for data centers, energy, and components. These cutting-edge technologies have yet to deliver substantial revenue returns for investors.

Among key deals is an agreement with AI chipmaker Nvidia, announced in September, where Nvidia committed $100 billion to support OpenAI's infrastructure, aiming for at least 10 GW of Nvidia's systems. A gigawatt is a measure of power, and 10 GW is roughly equivalent to the annual power consumption of 8 million U.S. households.

However, in November, Nvidia cautioned investors that there was "no assurance" the agreement with OpenAI would progress beyond an announcement to a formal contract.

"Securing world-class compute requires commitments made years in advance, and growth does not move in a perfectly smooth line," Friar wrote, emphasizing the need for discipline.

OpenAI has diversified its compute providers over the past three years, moving from relying on a single provider to a broader ecosystem. "We can plan, finance, and deploy capacity with confidence in a market where access to compute defines who can scale," she added.

Friar believes OpenAI's business model should scale alongside its services. "As intelligence moves into scientific research, drug discovery, energy systems, and financial modeling, new economic models will emerge," she stated.

This announcement follows OpenAI's recent plan to test ads for some ChatGPT users in the U.S., as the company prepares for a potential public debut this year. Friar stressed the importance of native monetization: "Monetization should feel native to the experience. If it does not add value, it does not belong."