--- description: Find out why OpenAI was selected for TIME‘s list of the most influential companies of 2026. title: TIME100 Most Influential Companies 2026: OpenAI image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt48dcfea46a110e96/69e437df23c6b4f22abcdc16/time100-companies-2026-openAI.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Apr 30, 2026 # OpenAI Setting the pace by [Tharin Pillay](/author/tharin-pillay/) ## Tharin Pillay Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Pillay is an editorial fellow at TIME.  OpenAI CEO Sam Altman speaks during the BlackRock Infrastructure Summit on March 11, 2026 in Washington, DC. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman speaks during the BlackRock Infrastructure Summit on March 11, 2026 in Washington, DC.Anna Moneymaker—Getty Images Even by Silicon Valley standards, OpenAI’s scale is staggering. In March, the company closed a [$122 billion funding round at an $852 billion valuation](https://openai.com/index/accelerating-the-next-phase-ai/?utm%5Fsource=chatgpt.com "undefined"). ChatGPT now has more than [900 million weekly active users](https://techcrunch.com/2026/02/27/chatgpt-reaches-900m-weekly-active-users/ "undefined"), and the company’s revenue has climbed to $2 billion a month. Rivals including Anthropic and Google are pressing hard, but OpenAI remains the company setting the pace of AI deployment, with a reach that spans consumers, developers, and businesses. Meanwhile, the company has roiled controversy, signing a Pentagon deal the same day rival Anthropic was banned from government work, and fighting allegations that ChatGPT may have played a role in a suicide and a mass shooting. To sustain its scale, OpenAI has been building out a sprawling infrastructure network with partners including Microsoft, Amazon, Oracle, SoftBank, and Nvidia, while also trying to tighten its product strategy. In recent weeks, it shut down [Sora](https://techcrunch.com/2026/03/24/openais-sora-was-the-creepiest-app-on-your-phone-now-its-shutting-down/ "undefined"), its video-generation app, and indefinitely paused plans for an [erotic mode](https://techcrunch.com/2026/03/26/openai-abandons-yet-another-side-quest-chatgpts-erotic-mode/ "undefined") as it redirected attention toward products with clearer commercial payoff, especially coding, workplace tools, and enterprise services. OpenAI’s pitch is that ChatGPT’s consumer reach now gives it a direct path into offices and organizations around the world. “We cannot miss this moment because we are distracted by side quests," CEO of AGI deployment Fidji Simo reportedly told employees at an internal meeting in March. —Tharin Pillay _Disclosure: Investors in OpenAI include Salesforce, where TIME co-chair and owner Marc Benioff is CEO._ _OpenAI and TIME also have a licensing and technology agreement that allows OpenAI to access TIME’s archives._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collection/time100-most-influential-companies/2026/openai/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collection/time100-most-influential-companies/2026/openai/"},"headline":"OpenAI","datePublished":"2026-04-30T13:19:08.077Z","dateModified":"2026-05-12T07:03:07.612Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collection/time100-most-influential-companies/2026/openai/","keywords":["TIME100 Companies","franchise","list"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt48dcfea46a110e96/69e437df23c6b4f22abcdc16/time100-companies-2026-openAI.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tharin Pillay","jobTitle":"Pillay is an editorial fellow at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/tharin-pillay/"}],"creator":"Tharin Pillay","articleSection":"Business","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt48dcfea46a110e96/69e437df23c6b4f22abcdc16/time100-companies-2026-openAI.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/business/","name":"Business"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collection/time100-most-influential-companies/2026/openai/","name":"OpenAI"}}]}] ```