Sam Altman Steps Down from 'OpenAI Startup Fund'

Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, the developer of the generative artificial intelligence (AI) ChatGPT, is stepping away from the 'OpenAI Startup Fund' that he operated for startup investments.

According to the American internet media Axios on the 1st (local time), OpenAI reported to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on the 29th of last month that it had changed the governance structure of the OpenAI Startup Fund.

Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, is having a conversation at the 'K-Startups meet OpenAI' event hosted by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups on the 9th at 63 Square, Yeouido, Seoul. Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

According to the filing submitted by OpenAI, the fund is now governed by partner Ian Hathaway, not CEO Altman. Hathaway has been involved as a partner in the fund since 2021 and has led several investments.

OpenAI stated that the initial general partner (GP) structure of the fund was a temporary agreement, and that CEO Altman did not have any personal investments or financial interests in it.

Accordingly, CEO Altman will no longer be involved with the fund.

The fund is a corporate venture capital (CVC) of OpenAI, but it operates by raising funds from external investors rather than the parent company. It has attracted a total of $175 million (approximately 237.2 billion KRW) from external investors such as Microsoft (MS). The investment decision authority was also held by OpenAI CEO Altman.

The fund was known as one of the reasons for the conflict between the OpenAI board and CEO Altman during the 'Altman ousting incident' last November. Although OpenAI is a nonprofit organization, CEO Altman was effectively the owner of this fund and made investments aimed at generating profits. CEO Altman was also subject to an internal investigation due to his extensive investment activities outside of OpenAI and fundraising activities in the Middle East.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.