OpenAI reportedly plans to become a for-profit company | OpenAI

OpenAI is reportedly moving forward with its plans to become a for-profit company after more senior figures left the ChatGPT developer following the surprise departure of chief technical officer Mira Murati.

The San Francisco-based startup is reportedly preparing to change its corporate structure as it needs $6.5 billion (£4.9 billion) in new funding.

Under the changes, OpenAI will become a for-profit benefit corporation – a company that makes profits but is committed to social and public welfare – and will no longer be controlled by its nonprofit board of directors, Reuters reported.

OpenAI declined to comment on the details of the reports, but a spokesperson said the startup’s nonprofit board would be retained.

“We remain focused on building AI that benefits everyone, and we are working with our board to ensure we are best positioned to successfully fulfill our mission. The nonprofit is core to our mission and will continue to exist,” the spokesperson said.

OpenAI was founded as a nonprofit in 2015 and expanded four years later to include a for-profit subsidiary in which Microsoft is the largest investor. On its website, OpenAI describes its structure as “a partnership between our original nonprofit and a new limited-profit arm.”

The ChatGPT developer, whose CEO Sam Altman has become the poster boy for the AI ​​boom, is reportedly expected to reach a valuation of $150 billion in the new capital raise, broadly in line with Uber’s valuation. Apple and chipmaker Nvidia are some of the companies mentioned in reports as potential investors in the new funding round.

OpenAI’s progress in developing artificial general intelligence — which the company describes as “AI systems that are generally more intelligent than humans” — has alarmed former employees. William Saunders, a research engineer who left OpenAI this year, said he quit because he “lost faith” that the company would make responsible decisions about AGI. Jan Leike, a former senior security researcher at the company, claimed in May that OpenAI was prioritizing “shiny products” over security.

Responding to Leike’s comments on X at the time, Altman wrote: “He’s right, we still have a lot of work to do; we are committed to doing that.”

Reports of the company’s restructuring process, which could last into next year, came as more senior technical staff announced their departures. Murati – who was the figurehead for the launch of OpenAI’s GPT-4o model in May – announced her departure on Wednesday. She had also briefly served as OpenAI’s interim CEO in November last year, when Altman was fired and then rehired by the nonprofit’s board.

Hours later, two other colleagues, Barret Zoph and Bob McGrew, also resigned, according to a post by Altman on the social media platform X. Zoph was vice president of research and McGrew was director of research.

“Mira, Bob and Barret made these decisions independently and by mutual consent, but the timing of Mira’s decision was such that it made sense to do this all at once now so that we can work together on a smooth transition to the next generation of leadership,” Altman wrote.

He added that leadership changes like Murati’s departure are a “natural part of companies,” adding: “Of course, I don’t want to pretend that it’s natural that this change would happen so abruptly, but we are not a normal company.”