OpenAI: Follow the Money

In a not-surprising move, it appears that OpenAI is changing its status from a research-oriented non-profit organization to a for-profit enterprise.  Company executives say this will allow the company to continue to focus on its stated mission of using AI to "benefit humanity" while also building value that can be reinvested in the company itself.  The company says it will operate as a “capped-profit” company that gives investors a return but then plows money back into the company itself.  Several executives left the company at around the same time it announced the shift.  

WHY IT MATTERS

Whatever the motives and goals of OpenAI's management, introducing outside money generally changes companies that accept it.  Outside investors have their own needs and priorities, and it is difficult for any enterprise to tread its own path, entirely free of investor demands.  With the massive global attention on AI right now, it is not surprising that OpenAI wants more money to be able to innovate and invest in research.  But it is also not surprising that investors want part of the action.  Whether and when those agendas come into conflict is anyone's guess.