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OpenAI said it will be restructured as a public benefit corporation, and the nonprofit that controls the organization would receive shares in the new company.
By Cade Metz
Cade Metz has covered artificial intelligence for more than 15 years.
Dec. 27, 2024, 8:00 a.m. ET
OpenAI revealed details on Friday about its plans to adopt a new corporate structure that will remove the company from control by a nonprofit that has been the focus of contention.
OpenAI’s leaders have been privately discussing a change for several months but have provided few specifics.
In a company blog post published on Friday, OpenAI said it planned to restructure as a public benefit corporation, or P.B.C., which is a for-profit corporation designed to create public and social good. OpenAI rivals like Anthropic and Elon Musk’s xAI use a similar structure.
“The P.B.C. is a structure used by many others that requires the company to balance shareholder interests, stakeholder interests, and a public benefit interest in its decision making,” the company said. “It will enable us to raise the necessary capital with conventional terms like our competitors.”
A year ago, the board of the nonprofit tried to fire the company’s chief executive, Sam Altman. It failed, but the incident spooked OpenAI’s investors, including the tech giant Microsoft. In the months since, Mr. Altman and his colleagues have been working toward a new structure.
With the change in structure, Mr. Altman and his colleagues must find ways to compensate the nonprofit for its loss of control. OpenAI said the nonprofit would receive shares in the P.B.C. but added that the value it would receive was still being negotiated by independent financial advisers.
