Originally expected to be fiercely contested, OpenAI’s latest funding round has hit resistance among major institutions and wealthy clients. Foreign media revealed that OpenAI has lowered its valuation target for this round to $1.25 trillion, a $150 billion cut from the $1.4 trillion it previously pitched to investors earlier this month. Morgan Stanley and tech funds took the deal to high-net-worth private wealth clients, but subscription interest fell far short of the enthusiasm seen in previous rounds. Insiders described the scene as not just lacking competition, but outright chilly. Many investors are now struggling to absorb their recent commitments—having invested $40 billion last year and another $122 billion this year—too rapidly. More crucially, Anthropic is set to go public imminently, and many investors are holding off, waiting to see what valuation Anthropic’s IPO will command before deciding whether to write a check for OpenAI. The era of blindly pouring money into AI leaders has truly ended; even the industry’s top player now has to lower its price to secure commitments.