A new study reveals that web searches for ‘OpenAI stock’ increased by a staggering 1,200%. This surge came after OpenAI staff threatened to resign following the firing of CEO Sam Altman by the company’s board of directors. Carried out by business advice company Venture Smarter, the study assessed Google search trends worldwide and noted a significant spike in searches for ‘OpenAI stock’ reaching a 90-day high on November 18th, right after Altman’s dismissal was made public.
The frenzy continued on November 20th, with searches spiking by 354% compared to the previous week, reflecting an increase in public interest after news of employee protests surfaced.
When news of Micorosft hiring Altman and Greg Brockman to lead their new AI department broke, it generated even more buzz. This move by Microsoft saw a surge in searches for ‘Buy Microsoft stock’ and ‘MSFT,’ Microsoft’s stock code, climbing by 371% and 526%, respectively, on the same day. On average, Microsoft’s stock code attracts around 618,000 searches each month.
While this must have been a tumultuous period for OpenAI, stock wise, it is important to note that the company which is behind successful technologies like ChatGPT and DALL-E, does not have publicly traded stocks. OpenAI stock can only be boughts by accredited investors, yet its AI product ChatGPT records a massive 1.7 billion monthly visits, highlighting their influence in the AI space.
A Venture smarter spokesperson said, “from the looks of things, there is a great deal of interest in OpenAI being publicly traded… It will be interesting to see if the close relationship between the two companies will help or hinder each other’s value in the future as the dangers of AI become an increasing area of concern. Microsoft is the clear winner, with its stock value at a record high after capturing some of OpenAI’s workers.”
