AI Daily: Nonprofit to retain control of OpenAI

Catch up on the top artificial intelligence news and commentary by Wall Street analysts on publicly traded companies in the space with this daily recap compiled by The Fly:

NONPROFIT TO RETAIN CONTROL: The Board of Microsoft (MSFT)-backed OpenAI said it has “made the decision for the nonprofit to retain control of OpenAI after hearing from civic leaders and engaging in constructive dialogue with the offices of the Attorney General of Delaware and the Attorney General of California. We thank both offices and we look forward to continuing these important conversations to make sure OpenAI can continue to effectively pursue its mission of ensuring AGI benefits all of humanity.” In a letter to employees and stakeholders, OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altman said, “OpenAI is not a normal company and never will be. Our mission is to ensure that artificial general intelligence (AGI) benefits all of humanity… We are committed to this path of democratic AI… We look forward to advancing the details of this plan in continued conversation with them, Microsoft, and our newly appointed nonprofit commissioners. OpenAI was founded as a non-profit, is today a non-profit that oversees and controls the for-profit, and going forward will remain a non-profit that oversees and controls the for-profit. That will not change. The for-profit LLC under the non-profit will transition to a Public Benefit Corporation (PBC) with the same mission… The non-profit will continue to control the PBC, and will become a big shareholder in the PBC, in an amount supported by independent financial advisors, giving the non-profit resources to support programs so AI can benefit many different communities, consistent with the mission.”

Microsoft, which has invested $13.75B in OpenAI, remains the biggest holdout among investors as the maker of ChatGPT seeks to restructure, Bloomberg’s Dina Bass and Shirin Ghaffary report. OpenAI is moving forward with an effort to restructure its for-profit division as a public benefit corporation, but changed its plans so that the overall business will instead remain under the control of its nonprofit. Microsoft is still actively negotiating details of OpenAI’s proposal, and its approval will be key to the restructuring plan, according to several people familiar with the matter. In a statement, OpenAI said, “We continue to work closely with Microsoft, and look forward to finalizing the details of this recapitalization in the near future.”

PONY AI, UBER PARTNERSHIP: Pony AI (PONY) and Uber Technologies (UBER) announced a strategic partnership to deploy Pony.ai’s Robotaxis onto the Uber platform. “At Pony.ai, our vision is to develop autonomous driving technology that is not only safe and reliable but also scalable, transforming daily transportation,” said Dr. James Peng, Co-founder and CEO of Pony.ai. “Partnering with Uber accelerates our shared mission to make autonomous mobility a real, everyday experience for more consumers around the world. By combining our proven autonomous systems, with Uber’s unparalleled ride-hailing platform, we’re poised to set a new standard for the commercialization of driverless services, starting in the Middle East before expanding to new markets.”

HYPER-PERSONALIZATION: Amazon (AMZN) said in a blog post that Braze (BRZE) is using AWS generative AI services to help their customers create authentic connections with audiences through real-time hyper-personalization, driving higher revenue and increasing retention rates. “Braze and Amazon Bedrock help you generate personalized content, from marketing messages to product descriptions and images customized for each recipient. This integrated solution helps to build meaningful customer connections through AI-driven personalization with the following use cases… Amazon Bedrock creates custom content using advanced foundation models (FMs) from leading AI companies. It analyzes individual user data and behaviors to deliver personalized experiences. This goes beyond basic personalization by creating truly individualized content, from product descriptions based on past purchases to messages aligned with user preferences. The personalization extends across all communication channels, including email, push notifications, SMS, and in-app messages. Content seamlessly connects to Braze campaigns through Connected Content, Braze Cloud Data Ingestion, and messaging APIs. Amazon Bedrock Guardrails help brands filter content by category, maintain brand safety standards, and ensure compliance requirements. Brands can enhance personalization using first party and zero-party data from Braze while maintaining their unique brand voice and values,” the post reads. “The integration of Braze and AWS AI services enhances customer engagement through data-driven personalization and automated content generation.”

COLLABORATION: xAI, TWG Global and Palantir Technologies (PLTR) announced a collaboration that commits to redefining how financial service providers of all sizes can successfully adopt AI and scale the technology across the entire enterprise to drive long-term market competitiveness and unlock unprecedented value creation. “Palantir is proud to partner with xAI and TWG Global to revolutionize AI adoption in the financial services industry,” said Alex Karp, co-founder and chief executive officer of Palantir Technologies. “Some of the West’s most critical institutions are spending too much time navigating cobbled-together systems and not enough time leveraging the transformative power of AI to unlock enormous growth. Placing AI at the core of operations empowers these companies to drive faster, more meaningful outcomes for customers and-consequently-generate far greater value for society.” Together, the partnership will build an offering that bridges the critical gap that has failed enterprises in the past by combining business objectives with an AI-first strategy. The team will partner with enterprise CEOs to develop and deploy a workforce of hundreds of thousands of AI agents that will redefine how businesses operate.