OpenAI Accelerates Expansion: Plans to Double Staff to 8000 by Year-End

OpenAI is accelerating team expansion, aiming to increase its total workforce from 4500 to 8000 by the end of 2026, nearly doubling its size. New hires will focus on core departments such as product development, engineering, research, and sales, while also recruiting 'technical ambassadors' to help enterprise customers implement AI tools.

The latest funding round further supports this expansion pace. OpenAI's valuation in this round reached $840 billion, with participants including SoftBank and other tech companies, and the funding scale is $110 billion. Earlier, Altman issued a 'red alert' due to competitive pressure from Google's Gemini 3, suspending non-core projects and redeploying resources.