OpenAI reverses course and says its nonprofit will continue to control business

The OpenAI logo appears on a mobile phone (Peter Morgan/AP)

OpenAI has reversed course and said its nonprofit will continue to control the business that makes ChatGPT and other artificial intelligence products.

“We made the decision for the nonprofit to stay in control after hearing from civic leaders and having discussions with the offices of the Attorneys General of California and Delaware,” said CEO Sam Altman in a letter to employees.

Mr Altman and the chair of OpenAI’s nonprofit board, Bret Taylor, said the board made the decision for the nonprofit to retain control of OpenAI.

4 facts about our structure:

-OpenAI will continue to be controlled by the current nonprofit

-Our existing for-profit will become a Public Benefit Corporation

-Nonprofit will control & be a significant owner of the PBC

-Nonprofit & PBC will continue to have the same mission

— OpenAI (@OpenAI) May 5, 2025

The nonprofit already has a for-profit arm, but that arm will be converted into a public benefit corporation “that has to consider the interests of both shareholders and the mission”, Mr Taylor said.

OpenAI’s co-founders, including Mr Altman and Tesla CEO Musk, originally started it as a nonprofit research laboratory on a mission to safely build what is known as artificial general intelligence, or AGI, for humanity’s benefit.

Nearly a decade later, OpenAI has reported its market value as 300 billion dollars and counts 400 million weekly users of ChatGPT, its flagship product.

OpenAI faced a number of challenges in converting its core governance structure. One is a lawsuit from Mr Musk, who accuses the company and Mr Altman of betraying the founding principles that led Mr Musk to invest in the charity.