OpenAI Could Become For-Profit Corporation: Reports
The discussions are ongoing, and no final decision has been made.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has informed some shareholders that the company is considering a shift to a for-profit firm structure, according to a report by The Information. This potential change would mean the firm's nonprofit board would no longer control the company.[1]
Altman mentioned that one possible route under consideration is becoming a for-profit benefit corporation, a model already adopted by competitors such as Anthropic and xAI. However, the discussions are ongoing, and no final decision has been made.
In response to inquiries from Reuters, OpenAI stated, "We remain focused on building AI that benefits everyone. The nonprofit is core to our mission and will continue to exist."[2]
Days earlier, Elon Musk decided to dismiss the lawsuit against OpenAI and its co-founders, Sam Altman and Greg Brockman. Sued in the California state court, the lawsuit was dismissed with prejudice on June 11th, the day after Musk openly denounced OpenAI’s new collaboration with Apple.
This lawsuit was filed in February by Musk against OpenAI, Altman, and Brockman for breach of contract and fiduciary duty. He said that OpenAI, which was created to build AGI to help humanity, has become profit-oriented and is now mostly owned by Microsoft.
OpenAI and Apple are teaming up to enhance Siri by giving it access to OpenAI's ChatGPT. This feature will be free for the users and will not require any account creation, thereby keeping the users' data private. Siri will also be enhanced in real-time statement correction as well as being more integrated with Apple operating systems.
Also, OpenAI, in collaboration with Microsoft, announced a new initiative aimed at supporting non-profit organizations by offering discounts on its corporate ChatGPT subscriptions. This move comes as part of OpenAI's strategy to expand the adoption of its AI products within the enterprise sector.