- The $1 trillion number was floated not to scare investors, but to ward of competitors thinking to get in.
- The OpenAI business model is to be one of the two (or only one) standing on the ash heap once the whole thing crashes and burns. That's how Google and Amazon ended up owning their markets, post-dotcom.
- Once the only option, they'll optimize for services that generate the most revenue for the least investment and shut down all the miscellaneous side projects. The same way Google shuts down services when they don't hit the adoption numbers, users be damned.
- When there's only one or two companies left and all the users of closed companies have migrated over, they can bump up their monthly price to 2x or 3x. Where else you gonna go?
- Once the crash comes, whoever has the largest pile of cash becomes king and can pick up ready-to-roll data center infrastructure at fire-sale prices.
That's the long-term play, not how much they're making now.