ChatGPT developer OpenAI has announced details of its departure from the non-profit model. In the new constellation, there will still be a non-profit arm in the corporate structure, but it will play a completely different role. The remaining parts of the organization will be transformed into a so-called Public Benefit Corporation (PBC). The principle of non-profit status will not be completely lost.
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On Friday, OpenAI provided information about the planned developments in a blog post. In the past, OpenAI already had a for-profit wing, which was, however, subordinate to a non-profit umbrella organization to which a large part of the profits went. The company now wants to convert this wing into a PBC in accordance with the requirements of the US state of Delaware.
OpenAI adopts new legal form
Companies with this legal form act both for profit and for the common good. In contrast to traditional, purely profit-oriented legal forms, a PBC takes into account the financial interests of stakeholders and the interests of those who are affected by a company’s activities. The promotion of the intended charitable goal also plays a role. The textile company Patagonia or the ice cream producer Ben & Jerry’s also have such a legal form.
In future, the PBC division of OpenAI will manage the business of OpenAI, which was previously the responsibility of the non-profit umbrella organization. However, the non-profit division will continue to exist and will in future “pursue charitable initiatives in areas such as healthcare, education and science” under its own management, according to the blog post.
For-profit course has already led to court
OpenAI announced the move from non-profit to for-profit in October, after this was a condition of a funding round with Microsoft and Nvidia, among others, as backers. One of the OpenAI co-founders is not at all enthusiastic about this: tech tycoon Elon Musk – has now also joined xAI in the race for the best artificial intelligence – took legal action against the for-profit plans. In 2015, he supported the founding of OpenAI as a non-profit organization with a donation of around 50 million dollars.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, whose company is developing the Llama AI, recently sent a letter to the US government criticizing the development of OpenAI – from its start as a non-profit organization to its intended status as a for-profit company. He asked the authorities to stop the project. The two OpenAI competitors had not yet responded to the company’s more concrete plans on Friday evening.
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