Nov 25 (Reuters) - Artificial intelligence firm OpenAI

has projected at least 220 million of ChatGPT weekly users will

pay for a subscription, The Information reported on Tuesday,

citing a person familiar with the matter.

OpenAI projects that by 2030, 8.5% of an estimated 2.6

billion weekly users, or around 220 million people, will

subscribe to its chatbot, positioning ChatGPT among the world's

largest subscription businesses, according to the report.

As of July, about 35 million users, which is roughly 5% of

ChatGPT's weekly active base, paid for "Plus" or "Pro" plans at

$20 and $200 a month, respectively, the report added.

Reuters could not immediately verify the report. OpenAI did

not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

While OpenAI's annualized revenue run rate is expected to

reach about $20 billion by this year-end, losses in the company

are also mounting, sources have told Reuters.

The Information had reported in September that OpenAI

generated around $4.3 billion in revenue in the first half of

2025, about 16% more than it generated all of last year and it

burned $2.5 billion in large part due to its research and

development costs for developing AI and for running ChatGPT.

OpenAI expects to generate about 20% of its revenue from new

products such as shopping- and advertising-driven features. This

week it introduced a personal shopping assistant for ChatGPT, a

move that could pave the way for monetization through ads or

commission-based sales, the report added.