OpenAI, developer of the groundbreaking ChatGPT chatbot, is overhauling its corporate structure and preparing to become a commercial company.
The company’s chief executive officer, Sam Altman, said Thursday that the company is “not a normal company” following a surprising new development this week when OpenAI’s chief technology officer, Mira Murati, resigned. I admitted it. Shortly after her resignation, it was announced that two other executives had resigned.
The company is synonymous with the artificial intelligence boom sparked by the arrival of chatbots, OpenAI’s flagship product in 2022, with the ability to create convincing human-like responses to a series of prompts. It surprised users.
Altman, in turn, has become a leading figure in technology that is rapidly advancing and being developed by the world’s largest technology companies, including Microsoft, Google, Facebook owner Meta, and Amazon, which are OpenAI’s biggest backers. Ta.
Here we take a look at some of the issues raised by the OpenAI changes.
What changes is OpenAI considering?
According to Reuters, the startup is considering becoming a for-profit corporation that would no longer be controlled by a nonprofit board, meaning it would make a profit while contributing to society and the public good.
OpenAI was founded as a nonprofit in 2015 and added a for-profit subsidiary in 2019 with support from Microsoft and a multibillion-dollar investment. The San Francisco-based company described itself as a “partnership between our original nonprofit organization and a new division with limited benefits.”
As a profit-restricted business, OpenAI’s for-profit arm will limit the profits given to investors and employees, with any excess returned to nonprofit organizations “for the benefit of humanity.” There is no upper limit on the return of profits to public interest corporations. OpenAI’s rival, Anthropic, operates as a public benefit corporation.
OpenAI declined to comment on the details of the reported reorganization, but said the nonprofit organization “will continue to exist.” Reuters also reported that the nonprofit organization and Altman will hold stakes in the for-profit business.
Why is OpenAI considering reorganization?
Developing powerful AI systems is expensive, and OpenAI could lose as much as $5 billion this year. Therefore, more investment is required. The company is in talks to raise $6.5 billion from investors, and removing limits on profits would be an added incentive for would-be backers to join the talks. Potential investors include technology company Apple and chipmaker Nvidia.
Why is it important?
OpenAI was founded with the goal of building “artificial general intelligence” (AGI), which the company describes as “AI systems that are typically smarter than humans.” Although the AI industry has not yet developed AGI and there is much debate about when it will arrive, this is one potential breakthrough in technology, and Tesla CEO It’s alarming experts, including Elon Musk. The fear is that the reckless development of AGI will unleash extremely powerful systems that evade human control.
As a result, safety concerns have swirled around OpenAI, including from former employees. William Sanders, a former safety researcher at the company, said in written testimony to the U.S. Senate that there was “a real risk that future AI systems will miss important and dangerous features.” He added that he had “lost faith” in OpenAI’s ability to make responsible decisions regarding AGI.
More generally, many experts believe that as the technology sector, led by OpenAI, Google, Microsoft, Meta, Anthropic and others, rushes to develop powerful AI tools, safety may take a backseat. I am concerned that there is. Max Tegmark, a US academic and key figure in the AI safety debate, said he was concerned that tech companies were participating in a “race to the bottom that must be stopped”.
OpenAI says its approach is “safety at every step” and recently announced that its safety and security committee will become an independent body.
Why have so many senior executives left the company?
Murati is the latest executive to leave OpenAI since the tumultuous days last November, when Altman was fired by the nonprofit board and then reinstated. She said Ms. Murati wanted “space for her to do her own exploration,” and Ms. Altman expressed “tremendous gratitude” for her work. Mr. Murati temporarily replaced Mr. Altman as chief executive last year, but maintained his high-profile role at the startup as responsible for the launch of its latest GPT-4o model.
Mr. Altman said Thursday that this week’s departure of Mr. Murati and two other senior employees was not related to the restructuring.
Other key executives have left the company since November. The company’s co-founder and chief scientist, Ilya Satskever, left this year after playing a role in Altman’s firing and rehiring. He was part of the board that decided to fire Altman, but shortly after signed a letter requesting his reinstatement.
Other departures this year include OpenAI co-founder John Schulman, who moved to Anthropic, and product manager Peter Deng. Greg Brockman, co-founder and president of OpenAI, also announced that he will be taking a leave of absence until the end of the year.
