Board says nonprofit to retain control of OpenAI

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.”