OpenAI reverses course and says its nonprofit will continue to control its business

OpenAI is reversing course and said Monday its nonprofit will continue to control the business that makes ChatGPT and other artificial intelligence products.

“We made the decision for the nonprofit to stay in control after hearing from civic leaders and having discussions with the offices of the Attorneys General of California and Delaware,” said CEO Sam Altman in a letter to employees.

Altman and the chair of OpenAI’s nonprofit board, Bret Taylor, said the board made the decision for the nonprofit to retain control of OpenAI. The nonprofit already has a for-profit arm, but that arm will be converted into a public benefit corporation “that has to consider the interests of both shareholders and the mission,” Taylor said.

OpenAI’s co-founders, including Altman and Tesla CEO Musk, originally started it as a nonprofit research laboratory on a mission to safely build what’s known as artificial general intelligence, or AGI, for humanity’s benefit. Nearly a decade later, OpenAI has reported its market value as $300 billion and counts 400 million weekly users of ChatGPT, its flagship product.

OpenAI faced a number of challenges in converting its core governance structure. One is a lawsuit from Musk, who accuses the company and Altman of betraying the founding principles that led Musk to invest in the charity.

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