{"slug": "stripe-says-the-singularity-has-arrived-here-s-what-they-told-investors-about-it", "title": "Stripe says the singularity has arrived. Here's what they told investors about it.", "summary": "Stripe executives told investors in a letter obtained by Axios that they believe the singularity—the point at which artificial intelligence surpasses human intelligence—arrived on January 1, 2026, and have been operating on that basis since. The letter, signed by CEO Patrick Collison, president John Collison, and president of technology and business William Gaybrick, cited a large inflection in long-run trends such as a huge increase in new firm creation. Stripe also announced the acquisition of AI model marketplace OpenRouter, and reported first-half fiscal year revenue rose 41% year-over-year.", "body_md": "Stripe says [the singularity](https://www.businessinsider.com/sam-altman-openai-the-singularity-agi-prediction-anthropic-nvidia-2026-7) already arrived — more than eight months ago.\n\nExecutives at the payment processing giant told investors Wednesday in a letter obtained by Axios that they decided the singularity, roughly defined as the point at which artificial intelligence surpasses human intelligence, arrived at the start of 2026 and that they've been acting accordingly.\n\n\"It's a fuzzy and perhaps already overworked term, but we decided that January 1st marked the beginning of the singularity, and we have since been operating on that basis,\" the letter said.\n\n\"The singularity is often invoked alongside millenarian forecasts, but, in our case, we simply saw a large inflection in long-run trends (for example, a huge increase in the rate of new firm creation), and we decided that we ought to take the phase change seriously,\" the letter from Stripe CEO Patrick Collison, president John Collison, and president, technology and business, William Gaybrick, continued.\n\nThe letter makes the Stripe leaders the latest tech execs to declare the singularity is already here.\n\nOpenAI CEO [Sam Altman](https://www.businessinsider.com/sam-altman) said in July that we were in the singularity, adding, \"I've been waiting for this my whole life, and I think it's going to be incredible, hugely positive, awesome for the world.\" In January, Tesla CEO Elon Musk declared on X, \"We have entered the Singularity.\"\n\nNot everyone agrees. Several AI experts previously told Business Insider that they did not agree with [Altman's take](https://www.businessinsider.com/ai-singularity-experts-disagree-sam-altman-2026-7).\n\nStripe's letter to investors came as the company announced Wednesday it was [acquiring OpenRouter](https://www.businessinsider.com/stripe-is-finalizing-8b-openrouter-purchase-investors-could-gain-2026-8), an AI model marketplace startup. Stripe did not mention the singularity in the public statement about the acquisition.\n\nThe investor letter said the company has two goals as AI reshapes society: speed up AI adoption across the economy and ensure that AI deployment gives people more control over their economic lives.\n\n\"The singularity appears to be accelerating our core business,\" the executives wrote, adding that the company's revenue for the first half of the fiscal year rose 41% year-over-year.\n\n\"Stripe is, of course, a private company today. We view this as a growing advantage as we venture into the vicissitudes of the singularity,\" the letter said. \"The world is becoming harder to predict and we expect that deft helmsmanship will be required of every company. We're fortunate to have a corporate structure that helps us steer the right long-term course.\"\n\nStripe declined to comment when reached by Business Insider.", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/stripe-says-the-singularity-has-arrived-here-s-what-they-told-investors-about-it", "canonical_source": "https://www.businessinsider.com/stripe-says-the-singularity-is-here-what-they-told-investors-2026-8", "published_at": "2026-08-19 21:46:46+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-08-19 22:13:38.828695+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["artificial-intelligence", "ai-policy", "ai-startups"], "entities": ["Stripe", "Patrick Collison", "John Collison", "William Gaybrick", "OpenRouter", "OpenAI", "Sam Altman", "Elon Musk"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/stripe-says-the-singularity-has-arrived-here-s-what-they-told-investors-about-it", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/stripe-says-the-singularity-has-arrived-here-s-what-they-told-investors-about-it.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/stripe-says-the-singularity-has-arrived-here-s-what-they-told-investors-about-it.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/stripe-says-the-singularity-has-arrived-here-s-what-they-told-investors-about-it.jsonld"}}