OpenAI is reportedly moving forward with its plans to become a for-profit company as more senior figures have left the ChatGPT developer following the surprise departure of its chief technology officer, Mira Murati.
The San Francisco-based startup is preparing to change its corporate structure as it seeks $6.5bn (£4.9bn) in new funding, according to reports.
With the changes, OpenAI will become a for-profit corporation, an entity that makes a profit but is Committed to the social and public good – which will no longer be controlled by its nonprofit board of directors, Reuters reported.
OpenAI declined to comment on the specifics of the reports, but a spokesperson said the startup’s nonprofit board would remain.
“We remain focused on developing AI that benefits everyone and are working with our board of directors to ensure we are best positioned to succeed in our mission. The nonprofit is core to our mission and will continue to exist,” the spokesperson said.
OpenAI was founded as a nonprofit in 2015 and four years later added a for-profit subsidiary in which Microsoft is the largest investor. The OpenAI website describes its structure as “a partnership between our original nonprofit organization and a new, limited-profit arm.”
ChatGPT developer Sam Altman, whose CEO has become a poster child for the rise of artificial intelligence, is reportedly on track for a new valuation of $150 billion under the new funding round, in line with that of Uber. Apple and chipmaker Nvidia are among the companies cited in the reports as potential investors in the new funding round.
OpenAI’s progress toward its goal of creating artificial general intelligence (which it describes as “AI systems that are generally smarter than humans”) has alarmed former employees. William Saunders, a research engineer who left OpenAI this year, said: He resigned because he “lost faith” It would make responsible decisions about AGI, while a former leading security researcher at the company, Jan Leike, claimed in May that OpenAI was prioritizing “brilliant products” over security.
Responding to Leike’s comments about X at the time, Altman wrote: “He’s right, we have a lot more to do; we’re committed to doing it.”
Reports of the corporate restructuring process, which could stretch into next year, came as more senior technical staff announced their departures. Murati, who was the leading figure in OpenAI’s May launch of its GPT-4o model, announced she was leaving on Wednesday. She had also spent a brief stint as OpenAI’s temporary CEO in November last year, when Altman was fired and then reinstated by the nonprofit’s board.
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Hours later, two more colleagues, Barret Zoph and Bob McGrew, also resigned, according to a post by Altman on the social media platform X. Zoph held the title of vice president of research and McGrew was director of research.
“Look, Bob and Barret made these decisions independently and amicably, but the timing of Mira’s decision was such that it made sense to do it all at once, so we can work together for a smooth transfer to the next generation of leadership,” Altman wrote.
He added that leadership changes such as Murati’s departure were a “natural part of business,” adding: “Obviously, I won’t pretend that it’s natural that this one is so abrupt, but we’re not a normal company.”