OpenAI on Monday launched a new AI model and desktop version of ChatGPT, along with an updated user interface, the company’s latest effort to expand use of its popular chatbot.
The update brings GPT-4 to everyone, including OpenAI’s free users, technology chief Mira Murati said in a livestreamed event. She added that the new model, GPT-4o, is “much faster,” with improved capabilities in text, video and audio.
“This is the first time that we are really making a huge step forward when it comes to the ease of use,” Murati said.
OpenAI, backed by Microsoft, has been valued by more than $80 billion by investors. The company, founded in 2015, is under pressure to stay on top of the generative AI market while finding ways to make money as it spends massive sums on processors and infrastructure to build and train its models.
The new model also has improved quality and speed of ChatGPT for 50 different languages, and it will also be available via OpenAI’s API so that developers can begin building applications using the new model today, Murati said. GPT-4o is twice as fast as, and half the cost of, GPT-4 Turbo, Murati said.
OpenAI team members demonstrated the new model’s audio capabilities, asking for help calming down ahead of a public speech. OpenAI researcher Mark Chen said the model has the capability to “perceive your emotion,” adding that the model can also handle users interrupting it. The team also asked it to analyze a user’s facial expression to comment on the emotions the person may be experiencing.
“Hey there, what’s up? How can I brighten your day today?” ChatGPT’s audio mode said when a user greeted it.
Chen demonstrated the model’s ability to tell a bedtime story and asked it to change the tone of its voice to be more dramatic or robotic. He even asked it to sing the story.
OpenAI’s new model can also function as a translator, even in audio mode, the company said. Chen demonstrated the tool’s ability to listen to Murati speaking Italian while he spoke English and to translate into their respective languages as they conversed.
Team members also demonstrated the model’s ability to solve math equations and help write code, positioning it as a stronger competitor to Microsoft’s own GitHub Copilot.
For OpenAI, it’s one of the company’s biggest announcements since its August launch of ChatGPT Enterprise, the AI chatbot’s business tier. That tool was in development for “under a year” and had the help of more than 20 companies of varying sizes and industries, OpenAI COO Brad Lightcap told CNBC at the time.
OpenAI, Microsoft and Google are at the helm of a generative AI gold rush as companies in seemingly every industry race to add AI-powered chatbots and agents to key services to avoid being left behind by competitors. Earlier this month, OpenAI rival Anthropic announced its first-ever enterprise offering and a free iPhone app.
A record $29.1 billion was invested across nearly 700 generative AI deals in 2023, an increase of more than 260% from the prior year, according to PitchBook. The market is predicted to top $1 trillion in revenue within a decade.
Some in the industry have raised concerns about the speed at which untested new services are coming to market, and academics and ethicists are distressed about the technology’s tendency to propagate bias.
After ChatGPT’s launch in November 2022, it broke records at the time as the fastest-growing consumer app in history, and now has about 100 million weekly active users. OpenAI says that more than 92% of Fortune 500 companies are using the platform.
Murati said during the Monday event that OpenAI wants to “remove some of the mysticism from the technology.”
“Over the next few weeks, we’ll be rolling out these capabilities to everyone,” Murati said, adding.
She concluded by thanking Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and his company for providing the necessary graphics processing units (GPUs) to power OpenAI’s technology.
“I just want to thank the incredible OpenAI team, and also thanks to Jensen and the Nvidia team for bringing us the most advanced GPUs to make this demo possible today,” she said.
Signage at Google headquarters in Mountain View, California, US, on Thursday, Oct. 23, 2025.
Benjamin Fanjoy | Bloomberg | Getty Images
The news is coming in fast and thick. Strap in.
First, interest rates.
The U.S. Federal Reserve lowered rates by 25 basis points, as expected by traders. But Chair Jerome Powell cautioned that another cut in December, which the market had been pricing in with more than 90% certainty, “is not a foregone conclusion.”
His statement threw cold water on the markets, sending most stocks lower and Treasury yields higher.
Next, Big Tech earnings.
Alphabet, Meta and Microsoft reported earnings that beat analyst expectations on the top and bottom lines. Notably, Alphabet’s quarterly revenue topped $100 billion for the first time.
And finally capital expenditure.
Capex is really the big story here. Alphabet, Meta and Microsoft are saying they are going to spend much more money.
Meta hiked the low end of its capex guidance for the year to $70 billion from $66 billion. “Being able to make a significantly larger investment here is very likely to be a profitable thing” CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in the earnings call.
And Microsoft’s Chief Financial Officer Amy Hood said capex in the firm’s fiscal first quarter came in at $34.9 billion — higher than the $30 billion figure estimated in July. The capex growth rate for fiscal 2026 will also surpass that in 2025, Hood added.
The crux is that spending on artificial intelligence isn’t going to slow down, at least for the next year, thanks to increasing demand for AI services. Fears of a bubble can be deferred for now.
That’s it for the day. We all can take a breather — at least until headlines emerge from U.S. President Donald Trump and China’s Xi Jinping’s meeting later in the day.
What you need to know today
And finally…
Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald Trump
A high-stakes meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping could yield a breakthrough in the trade relationship between the two economic superpowers.
But while both the Trump administration and Beijing are projecting optimism ahead of the sit-down, specifics about the summit remain unclear — and some experts are skeptical of the White House’s confidence on achieving a favorable outcome.
Meta Platforms shares were taking a beating in extended hours trading on Wednesday after management raised its expense guidance and took a massive tax charge. Revenue in the three months ended Sept. 30 climbed 26% year over year to $51.24 billion, easily outpacing the consensus estimate of $48.14 billion, according to LSEG. Adjusted earnings per share came in at $7.25 versus the $6.69 consensus, LSEG data showed. That earnings number does not include a nearly $16 billion, or $6.20 per share, one-time income tax charge due to the implementation of President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Bottom line Given the non-recurring nature of the charge and reassurances from CFO Susan Li on the post-earnings conference call, we don’t think the stock’s 7.5% decline is due to the tax change. Li said, “We continue to expect we will recognize significant cash tax savings for the remainder of the current year and future years under the new law, and this quarter’s charge reflects the total expected impact from the transition to the new U.S. tax law.” Rather, the pressure on the stock was almost certainly due to management’s expense guidance raise for the remainder of 2025, with Li reiterating prior commentary that capital expenditure “dollar growth will be notably larger in 2026 than 2025, with growth primarily driven by infrastructure costs, including incremental cloud expenses and depreciation.” Total expense growth is also expected to “grow at a significantly faster percentage rate in 2026 than 2025,” management also noted on the release. META YTD mountain Meta Platforms YTD We understand the capex concerns as the market tries to figure out what the long-term return on these monstrous artificial intelligence-driven investments is. But management has a good handle on things, with optionality and the ability to adapt depending on how things play out. To this point, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said on the call, “The right strategy [is] to aggressively frontload building capacity. So, that way we’re prepared for the most optimistic cases. That way, if superintelligence arrives sooner, we will be ideally positioned for a generational paradigm shift in many large opportunities.” In AI terms, superintelligence is when computers become smarter than humans. Zuckerberg added, “If it [superintelligence] takes longer to achieve, then we’ll use the extra compute to accelerate our core business, which continues to be able to profitably use much more compute than we’ve been able to throw at it. And, we’re seeing very high demand for additional compute, both internally and externally. And, in the worst case, we would just slow building new infrastructure for some period while we grow into what we build.” That Meta can profitably leverage even more compute than it already has should ease the minds of some investors when it comes to the massive spending. Meta is clearly going to find use for all the infrastructure it’s building, one way or another. It’s better to have it and not need it immediately than need it immediately and not have it. While there is always the potential for return on investment (ROI) to materialize more slowly than expected or at a lower rate, it should nonetheless be positive over time. Why we own it Meta Platforms dominates the world of targeted ads with excellent technology, and its strong user engagement makes it a great place to advertise. The company’s scale provides the financial power and employee talent needed to pursue new growth avenues such as artificial intelligence. Competitors : Alphabet , TikTok, and Snap Weight in portfolio : 4.69% Most recent buy : Sept. 6, 2022 Initiated : May 29, 2014 With these internal safety nets in place, the team is right to front-load the spending as the potential opportunity is simply too big to miss, and the stakes are simply too high. When technology as consequential as AI comes around, it’s either get with the program and fight to lead the way, or risk being disrupted by those who are willing to spend, which, at this point, is just about everyone. On the call, Zuckerberg further explained the internal benefits of building out more AI infrastructure. “The upside is extremely high for both our existing apps and new products and businesses that are becoming possible to build across Facebook, Instagram, and Threads. Our AI recommendation systems are delivering higher quality and more relevant content, which led to 5% more time spent on Facebook in Q3 and 10% on Threads. Video is a particular bright spot, with video time spent on Instagram up more than 30% since last year.” Outside of the one-time earnings hit – which we think the Street is looking past – and the spending dynamics, there really wasn’t much to take issue with in the third quarter report. In fact, everything else was fantastic. Revenue in both segments outpaced expectations, while the Family of Apps operating income came in better than expected, and the operating loss at Reality Labs was nearly $700 million less than expected. Sales were better than expected across all geographies. Engagement, as represented by Family Daily Active People, was well ahead of expectations, as was Family Average Revenue per Person. Free cash flow came up a hair short on the back of elevated capex, but was pretty much in line thanks to a solid beat on operating cash flow versus expectations. We’re reiterating our Meta price target of $825 per share and discussing whether to upgrade the stock to our buy-equivalent 1 rating. We currently have it as a 2 rating, which means look to buy on a pullback. We have to consider that while down after the release, the stock was up 28% year to date as of Wednesday’s close. Quarterly highlights Instagram reached 3 billion monthly active users, while Threads recently passed 150 million daily actives with Zuckerberg saying it “remains on track to become the leader in its category.” Reels reached an annual revenue run rate of over $50 billion. On the call, Zuckerberg noted the “annual run rate going through [Meta’s] completely end-to-end AI-powered ad tools has passed $60 billion.” Meta AI has over 1 billion monthly active users, with the team seeing increased usage as the underlying models improve. New Meta Ray-Ban and Oakley smart glasses are selling well. Zuckerberg said the new Meta Ray-Ban display glasses “sold out in almost every store within 48 hours, with demo slots fully booked through the end of next month.” Total ad impressions across all services increased 14% year over year, with Li saying it was “healthy across all regions, driven by engagement and user growth, particularly on video services.” Average price per ad increased 10% year over year. Regarding cash returns to shareholders, Meta returned $3.2 billion to shareholders via share repurchases and another $1.3 billion via dividends. Guidance Meta expects current fourth-quarter revenue in the range of $56 billion to $59 billion, which even on the low end, easily surpasses the consensus expectation of $54.95 billion, according to LSEG. Management, as mentioned earlier, raised the lower end of its full-year capital expenditures forecast. They are now targeting between $70 billion and $72 billion, up from the prior range of $66 billion to $72 billion. This new range is above the $68.36 billion consensus estimates, according to FactSet. Meta also raised the lower end of its 2025 total expenses guidance to between $116 billion to $118 billion, up from the prior range of $114 billion to $118 billion. This, too, appears to be above expectations of $114.9 billion, according to FactSet. (Jim Cramer’s Charitable Trust is long META. See here for a full list of the stocks.) As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust’s portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade. THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY , TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER . NO FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION OR DUTY EXISTS, OR IS CREATED, BY VIRTUE OF YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTING CLUB. NO SPECIFIC OUTCOME OR PROFIT IS GUARANTEED.
Headquarters of Samsung in Mountain View, California, on October 28, 2018.
Smith Collection/gado | Archive Photos | Getty Images
Samsung Electronics reported a rebound in earnings on Thursday, with operating profit more than doubling from the previous quarter on strength from its chip business.
Here are Samsung’s third-quarter results compared with LSEG SmartEstimate, which is weighted toward forecasts from analysts who are more consistently accurate:
Revenue: 86.1 trillion Korean won ($60.5 billion) vs. 85.93 trillion won
Operating profit: 12.2 trillion won vs. 11.25 trillion won
The South Korean technology giant’s quarterly revenue was up 8.85% from a year earlier, while its first-quarter operating profit climbed 32.9% year-over-year.
Samsung shares popped nearly 4% in early trading in Asia.
The earnings represent a bounce back from the June quarter, which had been weighed down by a massive slump in Samsung’s chip business. Operating profit increased by 160% compared to June, while revenue increased by 15.5% over the same period.
Samsung Electronics, South Korea’s largest company by market capitalization, is a leading provider of memory chips, semiconductor foundry services and smartphones.
Samsung’s chip business reported a 19% increase in sales from the June quarter, with its memory business setting an all-time high for quarterly sales, driven by strong demand from artificial intelligence.
The third-quarter operating profit also beat Samsung’s own guidance of around 12.1 trillion Korean won.
Chip Business
Samsung Electronics’ chip business posted an operating profit of 7.0 trillion Korean won in the third quarter, up 81% from the same period last year, and an over tenfold increase from last quarter.
Chip revenue increased to 33.1 trillion won, up 13% from last year.
Also known as its Device Solutions division, Samsung’s chip business encompasses memory chips, semiconductor design and its foundry units.
The unit benefited from a favorable price environment, while quarterly revenues reached a record high on expanded sales of its high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips — a type of memory used in artificial intelligence computing.
Samsung has found itself lagging behind memory rival SK Hynix in the HBM market, after it was slow to secure major contracts with leading AI chip Nvidia. However, in a positive sign for the company, it reportedly passed Nvidia’s qualification tests for an advanced HBM chip last month.
A report from Counterpoint Research earlier this month found that Samsung had reclaimed the top spot in the memory market ahead of SK Hynix in the third quarter after falling behind its competitor for the first time the quarter prior.
MS Hwang, research director at Counterpoint Research, told CNBC that Samsung’s third-quarter performance was a clear result of a broader “memory market boom,” as well as rising prices for general-purpose memory.
Heading into 2026, Samsung said its memory business will focus on the mass production of its next-generation HBM technology, HBM4.
Smartphones
Samsung’s mobile experience and network businesses, tasked with developing and selling smartphones, tablets, wearables and other devices, reported a rise in both sales and profit.
The unit posted an operating profit of 3.6 trillion won in the third quarter, up about 28% from the same period last year.
The company said earnings were driven by robust flagship smartphone sales, including the launch of its Galaxy Z Fold7 device.
Samsung forecasted that the rapid growth of the AI industry would open up new market opportunities for both its devices and chip businesses in the current quarter.
