OpenAI Pushes for Commercialization... Altman to Receive First Stake

OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT, plans to restructure its business into a for-profit corporation that is not overseen by its nonprofit board of directors, according to major foreign media reports on the 25th (local time).

According to the reports, OpenAI is currently formulating plans to convert the company into a for-profit entity. Sources stated that while the nonprofit board will not be disbanded, it will lose control over the company and retain only a minority stake. Furthermore, in the restructured corporation, Sam Altman, OpenAI's CEO, will receive shares in OpenAI for the first time, and there are also plans to remove the cap on investor returns.

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OpenAI was founded in 2015 as a nonprofit research institute by CEO Sam Altman, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Ilya Sutskever, Greg Brockman, and others. Its mission was to develop safe and beneficial artificial intelligence (AI) for humanity, free from commercial pressures. However, there were limitations in attracting large-scale investments without distributing profits, leading to the establishment of a for-profit subsidiary, OpenAI Global, in 2019, which allowed it to raise substantial funds from companies like Microsoft (MS). Nonetheless, to maintain its original nonprofit purpose, the nonprofit board was granted control and oversight over the for-profit entity.

Foreign media noted that OpenAI’s move toward for-profit status "will make the company more attractive to investors," but also pointed out that "the new governance structure could affect how the company manages AI risks." This highlights the recent resignations of nonprofit board members who had previously criticized the company’s AI risk management and attempted to remove CEO Altman.

Earlier in May, OpenAI co-founder Ilya Sutskever left the company to establish a startup called Safe Superintelligence (SSI), and John Schulman moved to competitor Anthropic. Mira Murati, the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) who filled the gap during Altman’s removal, also resigned on the same day. Bloomberg reported, "OpenAI employees are shocked by CTO Murati’s departure," adding, "Now, among OpenAI’s co-founders, only one remains besides Altman."

The news of OpenAI’s push toward for-profit status and Murati’s resignation came amid OpenAI’s ongoing fundraising efforts, having secured $6.5 billion in investments. Including a $5 billion bank loan under consideration, this amounts to $11.5 billion (approximately 15.3 trillion KRW) in total funding. OpenAI’s valuation, which was around $14 billion in 2021, is now estimated at about $150 billion. This is more than 90 times last year’s annual revenue of $1.6 billion.

Foreign media explained, "With the removal of nonprofit board control, OpenAI can operate like a typical startup," adding, "It will have a structure similar to major competitors Anthropic and Elon Musk’s xAI." Both Anthropic and xAI were established as Public Benefit Corporations (PBCs), aiming not only to generate profits but also to promote social responsibility and sustainability.

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