Non-profit for good
The question of OpenAI, its business, and intentions for the future of AI may finally be solved. In an open letter, OpenAI CEO and co-founder Sam Altman outlined plans to keep OpenAI running under the oversight of a non-profit. What’s more, the profit side of the business is transitioning to a Public Benefit Corporation (PBC).
A PCB is notable because it means that while that portion of OpenAI will still be interested in making a profit, it will have a larger purpose, one that’s intended to serve the good of society.
In more practical terms, Altman wrote, « We want to put incredible tools in the hands of everyone.We want to open source very capable models. We want to give our users a great deal of freedom in how we let them use our tools within broad boundaries, even if we don’t always share the same moral framework, and to let our users make decisions about the behavior of ChatGPT. »
In recent years, former partner and OpenAI co-founder Elon Musk has sued OpenAI for leaving its non-profit roots behind, and others have voiced concern about OpenAI not open-sourcing key models.
