The San Francisco-based firm behind ChatGPT announced the much-anticipated financing Wednesday. Thrive Capital led the round, with participation from SoftBank, Microsoft, Nvidia and others, sources told The New York Times. (The Logic, The New York Times)

Talking point: It is the biggest-ever round of venture capital investment, according to Axios. OpenAI will use the money for research to advance its technology; to pay for more hardware and other infrastructure to train and run its AI models; and to develop new products. The firm is reportedly set to convert its core business into a for-profit corporation, a move that will allow investors to take equity stakes instead of an earlier arrangement of earning a capped share of profits. OpenAI is also going through a leadership transition, with several top executives departing this year. But it remains the largest independent generative AI firm, and the new funding makes it one of the biggest private tech companies in the world.