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OpenAI to become for-profit company

reuters.com

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Re: OpenAI to become for-profit company

#61

Post by tsimionescu »

allie1 wrote: post #55
mtlmtlmtlmtl wrote: post #11

The most surprising thing to me in this is that the non-profit will still exist. Not sure what the point of it is anymore. Taken as a whole, OpenAI is now just a for-profit entity beholden to investors and Sam Altman as a shareholder. The non-profit is really just vestigial. I guess technically it's supposed to play some role in making sure OpenAI "benefits humanity". But as we've seen multiple times, whenever that g…

We haven't even heard about who gets voting shares, and what voting power will be like. Based on their character, I expect them to remain consistent in this regard.

Consistent here meaning, I guess, that all voting power will go to Sam Altman personally, right?

Re: OpenAI to become for-profit company

#62

Post by brap »

csomar wrote: post #41
phito wrote: post #20

I know nothing about companies (esp. in the US), but I find it weird that a company can go from non-profit to for-profit? Surely this would be taken advantage of. Can someone explain me how this work?

I am not a tax specialist but from my understanding a non-profit is a for-profit that doesn't pay dividends. Why would the government care?

Isn’t transferring all of your value to a for-profit company that can pay dividends, kinda the same thing?

Re: OpenAI to become for-profit company

#64

Post by goodluckchuck »

imdsm wrote: post #40

Lot of people unhappy about this yet not at all unhappy (or even caring) about the 1,000s of others who started out for profit. And while we're all here hacking away (we're hackers, right?) many of us with startups, what is it we're chasing? Profit, money, time, control. Are we different except in scale? Food for thought.

It’s criminal. Many people donated money, worked for them, gave data, etc. on the promise that OpenAI was working towards the public good. It turns out those transactions occurred under false pretenses. That’s fraud.

Re: OpenAI to become for-profit company

#65

Post by brap »

stonethrowaway wrote: post #39

I’m waiting for pg and others to excuse this all by posting another apologetic penance which reminds us that founders are unicorns and everyone else is a pleb.

pg is sama’s biggest DR-er (interpret this as you will).

They have that Michael Scott & Ryan energy.

Re: OpenAI to become for-profit company

#66

Post by neilv »

The incremental transformation from non-profit to for-profit... does anyone have legal standing to sue?

Early hires, who were lured there by the mission?

Donors?

People who were supposed to be served by the non-profit (everyone)?

Some government regulator?

Re: OpenAI to become for-profit company

#69

Post by 0xDEAFBEAD »

Havoc wrote: post #43
phito wrote: post #20

I know nothing about companies (esp. in the US), but I find it weird that a company can go from non-profit to for-profit? Surely this would be taken advantage of. Can someone explain me how this work?

That was the point musk was complaining about. In practice it’s doable though. You can just create a new legal entity and move stuff and/or do future value creating activity in the new co. IF everyone is on board with the plan on both sides of the move then that’s totally doable with enough lawyers and accountants

ICYMI, Elon Musk restarted his lawsuit a month or two ago: https://www.reuters.com/technology/elon-musk-revives-lawsuit...

I'm wondering if OpenAI's charter might provide a useful legal angle. The charter states:

>OpenAI’s mission is to ensure that [AGI ...] benefits all of humanity.

>...

>We commit to use any influence we obtain over AGI’s deployment to ensure it is used for the benefit of all, and to avoid enabling uses of AI or AGI that harm humanity or unduly concentrate power.

>Our primary fiduciary duty is to humanity. We anticipate needing to marshal substantial resources to fulfill our mission, but will always diligently act to minimize conflicts of interest among our employees and stakeholders that could compromise broad benefit.

>...

>We are committed to doing the research required to make AGI safe, and to driving the broad adoption of such research across the AI community.

>We are concerned about late-stage AGI development becoming a competitive race without time for adequate safety precautions. [...]

>...

https://openai.com/charter/

I'm no expert here, but to me, this charter doesn't appear to characterize OpenAI's behavior as of the year 2024. Safety people have left, Sam has inexplicably stopped discussing risks, and OpenAI seems to be focused on racing with competitors. My question: Is the charter legally enforceable? And if so, could it make sense for someone to file an additional lawsuit? Or shall we just wait and see how the Musk lawsuit plays out, for now?

Re: OpenAI to become for-profit company

#70

Post by [deleted] »

upwardbound wrote: post #51

Relatedly, dalant979 found this fascinating bit of history: https://old.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/3cs78i/whats_the... Yishan Wong describes a series of actions by Yishan and Sam Altman as a "con", and Sam jumps in to brag that it was "child's play for me" with a smiley face. :)

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