OpenAI may be overhauling its complex nonprofit structure in favor of a traditional for-profit push in 2025, the key to a potential $150 billion valuation as the AI leader veers down a similar profit-seeking path to that of its Silicon Valley peers.
The news was first reported by Fortune, based on comments made by CEO Sam Altman in a weekly OpenAI employee meeting. Altman gave employees little detail, but reiterated that OpenAI was “set” to move away from non-profit control as it had “outgrown” its founding arrangement.
Currently, OpenAI operates as a “capped” for-profit LLC controlled by a non-profit. It was this structure that allowed OpenAI’s board of directors, part of the non-profit parent structure, to fire Altman as CEO in Nov. 2023. The board accused Altman of lying to and obstructingthe work of the non-profit board and OpenAI’s safety measures, including omitting the nature of his ownership of the OpenAI startup fund. Altman was later …