Why OpenAI Offered to Pay $500 Million For A Startup With Videogame Data

Before we get to today’s column, in a sign of how insatiable OpenAI’s appetite for computing power is, the ChatGPT-maker and Nvidia rival Advanced Micro Devices announced a partnership Monday morning that would see OpenAI deploy six gigawatts of AMD’s chips over multiple years, starting in the second half of next year. As part of the deal, OpenAI will receive the option to purchase up to 10% of AMD stock if it hits certain milestones.

Speaking of insatiable appetites… OpenAI has a similarly voracious appetite for data to train its models on.

To give you a sense of how much it is willing to pay for such data, OpenAI late last year offered $500 million to acquire Medal, a site that lets gamers upload videos of their gameplay, said a person with knowledge of the discussions. OpenAI wanted to train its models on Medal’s videos. That price might not seem like much in today’s world of mergers and acquisitions but it would have represented 14% of OpenAI’s revenue last year.

The deal ended up falling through. But now, Medal—a 10-year-old, Netherlands-based startup that’s little known outside the gaming world—is spinning out a new research lab, General Intuition. The new lab aims to use the same videogame data to create its own state-of-the-art AI models, including models for the video game industry, the person said. The lab is finalizing a funding round to raise more than $100 million, they said. OpenAI, Medal and General Intuition declined to comment.