OpenAI was founded as a non-profit company and later became a capped profit company. In a normal capital structure company, investors can get unlimited returns. This stimulates economic activity in Silicon Valley. OpenAI’s returns have been capped at 100x. It is in the race to build AGI that will create trillions of dollars new wealth. Musk has sued OpenAI for becoming a for-profit company, but the judge has rejected the request to stop OpenAI but has allowed other parts of the lawsuit to go ahead. OpenAI has deviated from its original non-profit mission by being capped profit company and has now lifted the cap on investors so as to allure investors to maximize profits. It will be difficult to prioritize benefitting all of humanity over shareholder returns. It is likely to be tempted to create AI systems quickly without due caution for safety, security and fairness that such technology deserves.
As of now, OpenAI will ‘continue to be overseen and controlled’ by its non-profit Board. OpenAI wants to have its money both ways.
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