The activities of the American company OpenAI, a pioneer in the field of generative artificial intelligence (AI), will remain under the control of its non-profit organization. OpenAI announced this today. Due to growing criticism, it has revised its plans to transform into a more profit-oriented company, Bloomberg reported. OpenAI is behind the popular chatbot ChatGPT.
Decision
“We have made the decision that the nonprofit will retain control,” OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said in a letter to employees.
According to board chairman Bret Taylor, the previously created for-profit arm of OpenAI will be converted into a public benefit corporation that will take into account the interests of shareholders and OpenAI’s mission, the AP reported. A public benefit corporation is a specific legal form that combines the goal of generating profit, as in commercial companies, with the goal of acting in the public interest, as in non-profit organizations.
Unusual structure
OpenAI was founded in 2015 as a non-profit AI research lab with the idealistic mission of creating AI that is safe and beneficial to humanity. Four years later, it created a for-profit division to secure funding for its high development costs. Its unusual structure left control of the for-profit division to the non-profit organization.
One of OpenAI’s founders was billionaire Elon Musk, who resigned from his position on the company’s board in 2018. He is now among the critics who claim that OpenAI has deviated from its agreed path as a nonprofit organization.
Source: ČTK
