OpenAI to spend $115B in 4 years

PLUS: How to turn any photo into a hyper–realistic 3D model

Author

Alvaro Cintas
September 09, 2025

Good morning, AI enthusiasts. OpenAI’s ambitions just got a lot more expensive. The company has reportedly misjudged its cash burn by $80B, with a new forecast showing it will spend $115B through 2029, triple its earlier estimate.

PLUS: How to turn any photo into a hyper–realistic 3D model

HOW TO AI

How to turn any photo into a hyper–realistic 3D model

China just launched Hunyuan3D, a free AI tool that instantly converts your photos into fully textured, hyper-realistic 3D models. The site itself is simple to use, and here’s exactly how to get started.

🧰 Who is this for

  • Game developers who need ready-to-use assets in minutes

  • Animators and filmmakers turning concepts into textured 3D models

  • VR/AR creators building immersive environments fast

  • Product designers and e-commerce sellers showcasing 3D previews

  • 3D hobbyists who want to experiment and have fun with their images

STEP 1: Access the Tool

Head over to the official Hunyuan3D website. The interface is super clean and easy to navigate, with the upload section right on the left side.

At the top of the sidebar, make sure “Picture 3D” is selected. You’ll notice two options above the upload section: “Single Image” or “Multiple Images.” If you just want to quickly convert one photo into a model, go with single image. But if you’re aiming for higher accuracy and want the AI to process different angles of an object or a person, multiple images is the better choice.

For this tutorial, I’m going with single image.

STEP 2: Upload Your Image

Click the upload field and choose the picture you want to transform. It could be a portrait, a product shot, or even some digital artwork. Once the image is uploaded, a “Generate Instantly” button appears at the bottom of the sidebar.

STEP 3: Generate Your Model

Now hit “Generate Instantly” and let the AI do its magic.

In just a few seconds, it analyzes your photo, creates depth, builds geometry, and applies textures. Within a minute, you’ll have a fully interactive 3D model that you can rotate, zoom into, and examine directly in your browser.

The detail is insane, the textures look hyper-real and the proportions stay accurate.

STEP 4: Export Your Model

When you’re satisfied with the result, downloading is simple. Just head to the bottom-right corner of the screen and hit the download button. You can choose from formats like OBJ, FBX, or GLTF

These are standard 3D file types, so they work seamlessly with Blender, Unreal Engine, Unity, or pretty much any 3D software you’re using. That means you can instantly plug it into a game, an animation, or even list it on marketplaces like Sketchfab or TurboSquid to sell.

TODAY IN AI

According to The Information, OpenAI’s revised outlook paints a far steeper cost curve than expected. Instead of hitting break-even by the end of the decade, the company now anticipates multi-billion losses every year until 2029, with spending accelerating sharply:

→ $8B spend in 2025, rising to $47B by 2028, before narrowing to an $8B loss in 2029

→ $100B set aside for custom chips + hyperscale data centers (to cut reliance on → Microsoft & others)

→ $19B projected training costs by 2026; inference could hit $150B by 2030

→ $20B in stock comp to keep top AI researchers (vs. Meta, Google, Anthropic)

On the revenue side, projections are also climbing:

→ $13B expected in 2025, driven by ChatGPT
→ ChatGPT alone forecasted to generate $90B annually by 2030
→ Free ChatGPT users to bring in $110B between 2026–2030 via shopping commissions & ads
→ Overall revenue target: $200B by 2030 (15% above prior estimates)

Why is important: These numbers underscore the breakneck pace and cost of AI’s scaling race. OpenAI is betting it can outspend rivals by building its own compute stack and monetizing ChatGPT’s massive user base. With investors eyeing a potential $500B valuation, the stakes couldn’t be higher.

Cognition AI has secured $400 million in fresh funding led by Founders Fund (with Lux Capital and 8VC joining), pushing its valuation to $10.2 billion, more than double earlier this year.

→ Acquired coding startup Windsurf in July, doubling revenue and boosting ARR by 30%

→ Devin, its AI coding tool, scaled from $1M → $73M in revenue in just 9 months

→ Major clients include Goldman Sachs and Dell

Why is important: Cognition’s rapid rise highlights the soaring demand for AI-powered coding tools. With Devin’s explosive growth and enterprise adoption, the company is positioning itself as a serious contender to Google and Microsoft in the AI software race.

ESSENTIAL BITES

  • Google expanded Gemini products with audio uploads in the Gemini app, five new languages in Search, and customizable report formats in NotebookLM, available in over 80 languages.

  • Alibaba introduced Qwen3-Max, a trillion-parameter model that outperformed other Qwen3 variants, Kimi K2, DeepSeek V3.1, and Claude Opus 4 (non-reasoning) across benchmarks.

  • OpenAI is producing Critterz, an animated film made primarily with GPT-5 and other in-house tools, on a $30M budget and nine-month schedule — aiming for a 2026 Cannes debut to prove AI’s place in Hollywood.

  • Apple was hit with a class action lawsuit from authors Grady Hendrix and Jennifer Roberson, alleging it illegally used pirated books to train its OpenELM models, adding to the wave of copyright battles facing AI companies.

⚙️ Hot AI Tools:

That's it! See you tomorrow

- Dr. Alvaro Cintas