\n<\/p>\n
OpenAI has laid out plans to become a for-profit company. In a blog post published on Friday<\/a>, OpenAI\u2019s board said it will replace the company\u2019s existing structure with one that puts control into the hands of its for-profit arm.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Going into 2025, OpenAI plans to become a Public Benefit Corporation\u2060\u00a0(PBC), which is a for-profit company meant to operate<\/a> for the good of society. This division will \u201crun and control OpenAI\u2019s operations and business,\u201d while OpenAI\u2019s nonprofit will retain a stake in the business but lose its oversight role.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The nonprofit will operate separately with its own leadership team and staff \u201cto pursue charitable initiatives in sectors such as health care, education, and science.\u201d The board said the structure will allow OpenAI to \u201craise the necessary capital\u201d to build toward artificial general intelligence while also creating \u201cone of the best resourced non-profits in history.\u201d OpenAI\u2019s competitors, including Anthropic<\/a> and Elon Musk\u2019s xAI<\/a>, also operate as PBCs.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Rumors about OpenAI\u2019s transition into a for-profit company have been swirling for months as the company looks for ways to appeal to investors and raise money to keep its data-hungry AI models up and running. In September, Bloomberg<\/em> reported that CEO Sam Altman would receive around a 7 percent equity<\/a> stake as part of OpenAI\u2019s plans to become a for-profit company, something Altman reportedly denied<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cThe\u00a0hundreds\u2060\u00a0of\u2060 billions\u2060\u00a0of\u2060\u00a0dollars that major companies are now investing into AI development show what it will really take for OpenAI to continue pursuing the mission,\u201d the board wrote. \u201cWe once again need to raise more capital than we\u2019d imagined. Investors want to back us but, at this scale of capital, need conventional equity and less structural bespokeness.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Under the structure outlined by OpenAI\u2019s board, the nonprofit would get shares in the PBC \u201cat a fair valuation determined by independent financial advisors.\u201d Concerns about keeping OpenAI\u2019s nonprofit board in control boiled over last year, when its members ousted Altman<\/a> but later reinstated him<\/a>. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n