OpenAI recently announced its new for-profit structure. EyesOnOpenAI – a coalition that SFF helps lead – commended California Attorney General Bonta for listening to our concerns and demonstrating a commitment to enforcing fiduciary duties and addressing conflicts of interest. However, the coalition has ongoing concerns about the lack of nonprofit independence and how OpenAI’s assets were valued.
Read news coverage of the announcement below:
TIME: A Timeline of the Battle for OpenAI: Musk, Altman, and the For-Profit Shift
After almost a year of negotiations, OpenAI announced Tuesday that it has completed its restructure to a public benefit corporation, with a separate nonprofit Foundation focused on “health and curing diseases” and “technical solutions to AI resilience” holding a $130 billion stake in the for-profit arm—just shy of the $135 billion stake that Microsoft received, which it said represented 27% ownership.
Politico: OpenAI gets green light from California for multibillion-dollar makeover, but still faces hurdles
ChatGPT maker OpenAI announced a major victory on Tuesday, gaining the blessing of the attorneys general in California and Delaware to complete its controversial, multi-billion dollar business restructuring after months of intense public scrutiny.
[…] “We have been clear and consistent in our requests of the attorney general – a fair and independent valuation of the assets accumulated under the nonprofit and independent governance of those assets,” said Judith Bell, the chief impact officer at the San Francisco Foundation, in a statement.
San Francisco Examiner: OpenAI restructuring marks seismic shift in industry landscape
OpenAI has completed its corporate restructuring effort, deeply disappointing consumer and community advocates who hoped for stronger controls on its governance and operation — or to force it to give its billions of dollars in charitable assets to an independent entity.
Cal Matters: OpenAI just cut a deal with California. Critics say it’s full of holes
OpenAI said Tuesday it would restructure as a for-profit company in a way that addresses concerns from California Attorney General Rob Bonta, who signed off on the transformation.
But details of the move could revive worries that OpenAI is misusing charitable tax exemptions, experts and advocates told CalMatters. The ChatGPT maker is putting its nonprofit arm nominally in control of the for-profit entity, but there are numerous ways the for-profit company could end up calling the shots, these people said. There are also important, unanswered questions about the safeguards that are supposed to keep that from happening.
