In a scathing open letter, luminaries from the AI industry and beyond are calling on OpenAI to prove that it hasn't betrayed humanity in favor of profits.
Referring to themselves as the "legal beneficiaries of your charitable mission" — that is, members of the human species OpenAI pledged to benefit when it was granted nonprofit status in 2015 — the open letter, signed by the likes of AI Godfather Geoffrey Hinton and AI researcher Gary Marcus, charges the Sam Altman-run company with essentially playing God.
"OpenAI is currently sitting on both sides of the table in a closed boardroom," the letter reads, "making a deal on humanity's behalf without allowing us to see the contract, know the terms, or sign off on the decision."
As the letter notes, OpenAI was founded as a nonprofit with an overarching principle: to ensure that any future artificial general intelligence (AGI), or human-level AI, "benefits all humanity."
But with its attempts to move away from nonprofit status and restructure as a for-profit entity, the letter's long list of signatories — which include British film and TV star Stephen Fry, for some reason — are no longer convinced that OpenAI plans to uphold the humanity-benefitting part of the bargain.
"We call for at least a basic level of transparency about how this transition will affect your legal commitments to the public," wrote the signatories, who include several OpenAI expats like alignment researcher Jacob Hilton and Georgetown researcher Helen Toner, who worked to oust Altman during November 2023's failed CEO coup.
The group then issues a seven-point list of demands about the specifics of the restructuring.
Beyond asking whether OpenAI will continue to uphold its "legal duty to prioritize" humanity over profits, the signatories also asked what role the company's nonprofit board will play going forward, whether it will "abide by its commitment to devote excess profits to the benefit of humanity," if any AGI it manages to produce will be commercialized, and if it will compete with other companies that might attain AGI.
"The stakes could not be higher," the letter contends. "The decisions you make about governance, profit distribution, and accountability will shape not only your organization's future but also the future of society at large."
This is, of course, neither the first nor will it be the last open letter aimed at OpenAI.
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