Yo, y’all, grab a seat because the latest OpenAI receipts are out… and damn, they’re hot.

Here’s the gist: 

Leaks from tech blogger Ed Zitron give us a peek into how much OpenAI is actually paying Microsoft — and it’s wild.

In 2024, Microsoft pocketed $493.8 million from OpenAI. Not bad, right? 

But hold your hats: in just the first three quarters of 2025, that number jumped to $865.8 million. Yeah… almost doubled.

Why? Well, OpenAI reportedly gives Microsoft 20% of its revenue because of that $13B+ investment deal. 

But here’s the plot twist: Microsoft also shares revenue back with OpenAI from Bing and Azure OpenAI services. Basically, they’re swapping money back and forth like some giant, billion-dollar “pay-it-forward” game. The only thing is… the leaked docs show Microsoft’s net cut, so the full picture? Still a mystery.

Now, let’s talk compute, the real money pit. 

OpenAI leans on Azure, but also dabbles with CoreWeave, Oracle, AWS, and Google Cloud. So compute spend in 2024? Around $5.6 billion. But the cost of revenue for the first half of 2025? $2.5 billion.

Training is mostly covered with Microsoft credits, basically free GPU rides thanks to Big M. But inference, the day-to-day cost of actually running the models for you, me, and every dev building a chatbot? 

That’s cash out of pocket. And from what we can tell, there’s a real possibility OpenAI is burning more money running its models than its bringing in.

So yeah… the AI hype train might have a tiny, really expensive engine under the hood. 

If OpenAI — the crown jewel of AI startups — is still deep in the red, it raises big questions about all these other sky-high valuations in the AI world.

And as usual, both OpenAI and Microsoft are keeping mum. No comment, no reply, nothing.

Big picture takeaway?

We’re watching a company burn through compute like it’s popcorn, juggle revenue-share math that would make an accountant cry, and still somehow stand at the center of the biggest tech boom in a decade.

If this is the financial reality behind the curtain… the next 12 months are gonna be very interesting.

Stay tuned — because this story is far from over.

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Stop Fraud in Its Tracks

You ever read something and instantly go, “oh yeah… ChatGPT definitely wrote this”?

Yeah. Blame the em dashes.

For the past year, that long dramatic line has basically been the AI equivalent of leaving fingerprints at a crime scene. We’re talking school essays, work emails, even customer service replies.

And the funniest part? Even when you told it not to use them, it was like, “Totally got you — anyway—” and just kept going. It got so ridiculous, that actual humans who genuinely LIKE em dashes started getting side‑eyed… 

But plot twist: OpenAI finally fixed it.

Sam Altman hopped on X calling it a “small‑but‑happy win.” 

Translation: they finally realized the internet was tired of ChatGPT’s punctuation personality disorder.

So here's the core change: Custom Instructions now actually work the way they were supposed to from day one.

Before the update, the AI was punctuation feral — ignoring user preferences, doing its own thing, and leaving every document looking suspiciously uniform.

Now?

And the setup is stupid easy.

Just open Settings, hit Custom Instructions and tell ChatGPT exactly how you want your punctuation to behave. 

You can ban em dashes entirely, swap them for commas, force periods — whatever fits your style. Save it once, and the fix sticks across everything you generate moving forward.

But zoom out for a sec, because this update is actually way bigger than a punctuation tweak.

It’s a sign that AI writing is finally moving past that old robotic default voice into something more personal, customizable, and human. The goal was never to give everyone one universal ChatGPT tone — it’s to make the tool blend seamlessly into your workflow without screaming “AI wrote this.”

And if we want AI to feel like a tool instead of a tell, this kind of control isn’t optional — it’s essential.

So yeah — the em dash era is officially optional now. Retire it. Embrace it. Switch it up depending on your mood.

At least ChatGPT finally learned how to listen.

If you’re in the email trenches, you know inbox chaos is real. Here are some AI tools to help you manage, summarize, and automate emails across platforms:

Alright, squad—let’s be real. Email can be a total time-suck. But with AI, you can go from inbox chaos to smooth-operator mode without breaking a sweat. 

Here’s the lowdown on how to automate your email workflow like a boss.

Step 1: Plan Your Workflow:

Get your goals straight. Are you sending welcome emails? Following up on leads? 

Segment your audience so each email hits the right vibe. Then pick your AI sidekick. Tools like Zapier, Lindy.ai, or Make.com, can connect apps, manage your inbox, and even suggest replies.

Step 2: Build Your Automated Sequences/Triggers:

Triggers are the spark. They’re the “when this happens → do this next” part. 

Once you get that part, integrate AI with your email and apps, give the right permissions, and let it handle content suggestions, summaries, and even drafting follow-ups.

Step 3: Train, Test, and Optimize:

AI’s like a pet—you gotta train it. So teach it your brand voice, tweak drafts, proofread and give feedback.

Track metrics like open rates, clicks, and engagement, and don’t shy away from A/B testing subject lines or content. Over time, your AI learns, adapts, and basically becomes your inbox MVP.

Step 5: Keep Scaling:

Start simple. Automate one workflow, measure results, then layer in more complexity. Hook in other channels like Slack, SMS, or CRM to make emails feel human.

Key Tools to Know

Once you get this rolling, your AI assistant can handle everything from generating emails, prioritizing messages, and following up, to analyzing performance—all while you sip your coffee and pretend your inbox isn’t a black hole.

⚡ Prompts to try:

P.S. This isn’t sponsored, we don’t get paid for these reviews. We just love shining the light on tools that would actually help people work smarter.

Also…

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