OpenAI will become a Public Benefit Corporation - here's what that means

Jason Redmond / Getty Images In a somewhat unexpected move, OpenAI is evolving its company structure -- and not necessarily toward profit. OpenAI LLC is the for-profit arm of the organization that runs products like ChatGPT. OpenAI Inc is the nonprofit arm that owns OpenAI LLC. On Monday, the company announced that OpenAI LLC would transition to a Public Benefit Corporation (PBC), with OpenAI Inc maintaining control as its largest shareholder. (Disclosure: Ziff Davis, ZDNET's parent company, filed an April 2025 lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.) Also: Only 8% of Americans would pay extra for AI, according to ZDNET-Aberdeen research Other AI companies, including Anthropic and X.ai, and retail companies like Allbirds and Patagonia, are set up as PBCs. The shift to a PBC OpenAI's leaders have been in public turmoil over which direction to take the company in recent years, most notably in late 2023, when CEO ... Read full article.