Odaily News OpenAI had previously planned to transform into a for-profit organization, but ultimately decided that its nonprofit arm would retain control of the for-profit organization. OpenAI's business unit, which has been part of the nonprofit since 2019, will transform into a public benefit company (PBC). The nonprofit will control PBC and become its majority shareholder.
"OpenAI was founded as a nonprofit organization and is currently supervised and controlled by that nonprofit organization. It will continue to be supervised and controlled by that nonprofit organization," Bret Taylor, chairman of the OpenAI board, wrote in a statement on the company's blog.
OpenAI said it made the decision after listening to civic leaders and engaging in constructive dialogue with the offices of the Attorney General of Delaware and the Attorney General of California. OpenAI was founded in 2015 as a nonprofit, but transitioned to a limited profit organization in 2019 and is attempting to transition to a for-profit organization again. After transitioning to limited profit, OpenAI retained its nonprofit arm, which currently holds a controlling stake in OpenAI's corporate arm.
OpenAI has said the transition is crucial to raising the funds needed to grow its business, and that it will retain its nonprofit status and inject more resources into charitable projects in areas such as health, education and science.
It is understood that in exchange for controlling stakes in OpenAI's companies, OpenAI will receive billions of dollars in revenue. At the same time, the risks faced by OpenAI are high. It needs to complete its for-profit transformation by the end of this year or next year, otherwise it will face the risk of giving up some of the funds raised in recent months. It is not clear what consequences OpenAI will face after changing direction. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman published a letter to employees on Monday, arguing that OpenAI may eventually need trillions of dollars to achieve its goal of making the company's services widely available to all mankind.