Official announcements from OpenAI or partner organizations

OpenAI Shifts to For-Profit Model, Grants CEO Sam Altman 7% Equity Amid Musk's $100M Investment

Jan 23, 2025, 02:46 AM

OpenAI, originally founded as a non-profit organization with a $100 million investment from Elon Musk, who also named the company to reflect its commitment to open-source development, is undergoing a transformation to become a for-profit benefit corporation. This shift includes removing non-profit board control and granting CEO Sam Altman exclusive equity, with Altman receiving 7% of the company. The move has sparked controversy, as OpenAI was initially intended to be an open-source entity focused on the development of AI for the benefit of humanity. Critics, including Musk, have expressed disappointment over the change from an open-source, non-profit model to a closed-source, for-profit model, suggesting that the organization should be renamed to reflect its new focus on maximum profit.