AI · SEMICONDUCTOR · FACT CHECK
SKD WIREMostly True
OpenAI is at the center of a controversy over what critics are calling a '2.7 trillion won illusion' in its reported revenue, a dispute that has coincided with a marked cooling in sentiment across the AI market.
The controversy centers on claims that OpenAI's revenue figures have been presented in a way that creates an inflated impression — a "revenue illusion" — with the figure in question amounting to roughly 2.7 trillion won. The debate has raised questions about how the company's commercial performance should be interpreted, though the exact accounting basis of the disputed figure remains contested.
The dispute has landed at a sensitive moment for the broader AI sector. Investor enthusiasm that had driven valuations across the AI industry has visibly cooled, with market participants described as "frozen" amid uncertainty over the real revenue-generating capacity of leading AI companies. The OpenAI controversy has amplified this caution, feeding skepticism about whether reported growth in the sector reflects durable commercial demand.
Key details of the revenue dispute — including the precise methodology behind the 2.7 trillion won figure and OpenAI's response to the criticism — remain unclear. The claim underlying the controversy has been rated as largely accurate on the available evidence, but several aspects of the dispute are not fully confirmed.
The controversy over OpenAI's revenue figure and the chill it has spread through the AI market are, on balance, Mostly True.
