I think David got it right
"OpenAI’s financials weren’t any different before or after DeepSeek. They were still completely stupid and unsustainable. But the idea that burning money would protect them wasn’t viable any more.
This means OpenAI has to make more and more announcements so they look to the investors like they’re still cool and interesting. Any old garbage will do, like a literary fiction writer bot or something."
https://circumstances.run/@davidgerard/114236556171702070