Elon Musk Gets His Wish: OpenAI Will Remain a Nonprofit

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has been working on wriggling out from under the control of the company’s nonprofit board ever since they (briefly) fired him. But, after several efforts to prevent the move, including a lawsuit filed by OpenAI co-founder Elon Musk, the company announced on Monday that it will keep its structure for now. The desire to ditch its nonprofit structure stems primarily from one thing: money. Being organized as a nonprofit means that OpenAI isn’t driven by providing a return on investment for shareholders (at least in theory), but instead focused on its stated mission of ensuring “artificial general intelligence benefits all of humanity.” Being a nonprofit has also led to some complications for OpenAI’s fundraising efforts. The company secured $40 billion in funding, primarily from SoftBank, earlier this year, but that money was contingent on OpenAI completing its planned restructuring to a for-profit entity. Now that funding is in limbo. OpenAI will continue to operat ... Read full article.