To California Attorney General: Investigate OpenAI’s for-profit “transformation”

When OpenAI released ChatGPT in 2022, students rejoiced at the thought of never writing a paper from scratch again. Writers, meanwhile, stressed about never getting work again—at least at a living wage. Some people even asked: is this the beginning of the end?

This catapulted OpenAI and AI in general into the limelight. Unlike other AI companies, though, OpenAI is a nonprofit. Or, rather, was?

Years into the AI boom, executives at OpenAI are trying to restructure the company as a for-profit to increase investments, returns for investors, and political influence. Restructuring OpenAI into a for-profit organization, though, could jeopardize an estimated $157 billion in nonprofit assets that are intended for public benefit. 

That’s why the California Attorney General’s office is looking into its reported plan to convert to a for-profit corporation and how it intends to transfer assets out of its existing nonprofit.

It’s also why we signed onto this letter, along with other California nonprofits and foundations, urging California Attorney General Rob Bonta to investigate the company and initiate legal action to ensure that OpenAI’s charitable assets are reserved for public good.

Read the full letter below: