OpenAI has been ranked No. 1 on the CNBC Disruptor 50 list for two consecutive years.

• Only two companies have ever held the top spot on the CNBC Disruptor 50 list twice: SpaceX and now, OpenAI.
• The generative AI startup, OpenAI, which is behind ChatGPT and saw its valuation increase from $29 billion to over $80 billion, is the first Disruptor to hold the top spot in two consecutive years.
• In late 2023, a dramatic boardroom battle for CEO Sam Altman resulted in the company's growth of new products, services, and business partnerships, generating an estimated $2 billion in revenue.

For the second year in a row, a company has topped the annual CNBC Disruptor 50 list.

OpenAI has had the most significant impact and potential on the startup industry in the past 12 years, as evidenced by its inclusion on the Disruptor 50 list.

OpenAI is not working against incumbents but instead partnering with tech giants and other large corporations to lead the AI revolution. It is serving as an ally to help navigate and implement unprecedented changes, with new tools that can be customized for consumers and enterprise data sets.

AI startups, like OpenAI, are not unique, but rather, they are aligned with giants due to the compute power and massive funding required to accelerate artificial intelligence learning. In fact, 34 of this year's Disruptor 50 companies describe AI as critically important to more than half of their revenue, with thirteen stating that generative AI is specifically critical to the majority of sales.

OpenAI has again been named the top company for two consecutive years due to its continued pace of innovation. In the past year, the company has experienced significant growth, with the launch of new products and services related to its GPT large language model and business partnerships. Additionally, OpenAI's consumer subscription option and enterprise licensing deals have helped generate a reported $2 billion in annual revenue.

On Monday, OpenAI unveiled a new AI model and desktop version of ChatGPT, along with an updated user interface. During a livestream event, Chief Technology Officer Mira Murati announced that the new model, GPT-4o, is "significantly faster" and has enhanced capabilities in text, video, and audio. "This represents a major leap forward in terms of user-friendliness," Murati stated.

In November, CEO Sam Altman was removed from his position in a heated boardroom meeting, but was reinstated just days later due to backlash from investors and employees. This incident led the company to strengthen its board and management structure, with Altman rejoining the board in March. The subsequent effort to rehire Altman and his team demonstrated the strong corporate and venture capital support for the OpenAI CEO as a visionary and leader.

In February, the company launched its text-to-video generator Sora and completed a funding round that valued the company at $80 billion, up from $29 billion at the time it was ranked No. 1 on the Disruptor 50 list in 2023. Additionally, the company later unveiled an audio AI, Voice Engine, in a limited test.

Altman has emerged as a prominent voice in AI regulation after testifying before Congress about the need for cautious AI guidelines. OpenAI, the company at the center of AI concerns, is under investigation by the FTC and SEC for potential consumer protection law violations and investor misleading. Additionally, the company is facing lawsuits from publishing companies, including The New York Times, and individual artists, such as Jodi Picoult, over copyright infringement. In response, OpenAI has strengthened its legal team to defend against these legal challenges.

OpenAI has reached new agreements with Meredith, the publisher of Food & Wine and People, and the Financial Times to compensate them for the use of their intellectual property and to drive traffic back to their content.

AI's wave extends to many industries

The current wave of AI disruptors, including Databricks, Anthropic, Scale AI, Cohere, AlphaSense, and Glean, is characterized by a rapid pace of change, with significant progress made every year in large language models, as well as a reliance on costly chips and infrastructure.

Unlike the popular myth that successful tech companies were founded in a garage, AI-driven companies require GPUs and data centers, leading them to partner with giants such as Microsoft, Nvidia, Oracle, Salesforce, Amazon, and Alphabet. As a result, we may see fewer new entrants in the AI sector, but those that do succeed, like those on our Disruptor 50 list, have the potential to be even more impactful and disruptive.

Across various industries, this year's Disruptor 50 companies are leveraging AI, robotics, and cloud technology.

The tech industry is dominated by enterprise companies, with 14 firms on this year's list, including Databricks and AlphaSense, which employ AI to enhance productivity and extract valuable insights from data across various sectors, particularly finance.

The second-best represented sector is Fintech, with 10 companies on this year's list, including Brex (No. 4), Chime (No. 22), and Ramp (No. 32), which have integrated AI assistants to enhance consumer interactions, offer suggestions, and provide advice on effective corporate budgeting.

In the biotech and healthcare industry, eight companies, including ElevateBio (No. 8), Generate Biomedicines (No. 25), and Spring Health (No. 45), are leveraging AI to speed up drug development and enhance patient outcomes.

The aerospace and defense industry is being powered by AI, with Anduril being the second on the list. The company recently introduced new AI-powered drones and uses an AI-powered operating system to infuse autonomy into various defense and security systems.

Soon, every company will integrate AI, regardless of its industry.