OpenAI, the parent company of ChatGPT, took new steps Friday on its path to becoming a for-profit company to raise more capital to develop its artificial intelligence tools.
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“We once again have to raise more capital than we imagined. Investors want to support us, but […] they need conventional equity,” OpenAI explained on its site on Friday, detailing its project.
OpenAI therefore indicates that it will transform its existing commercial structure, which for example sells subscriptions to the more advanced version of ChatGPT, into a for-profit company with shares, while maintaining a non-profit entity.
Alongside business operations, “the nonprofit will hire a management team and staff to pursue charitable initiatives in sectors such as healthcare, education, and science,” argues OpenAI.
OpenAI, founded in 2015 as a non-profit organization, launched the wave of generative artificial intelligence (AI) with ChatGPT in late 2022.
This fall, it completed a major fundraising of $6.6 billion, which then valued it at $157 billion. At the same time, it confirmed that it wanted to become a for-profit company.
Because the young company, still unknown to the public two years ago, is far from profitable. OpenAI expected to lose around $5 billion this year, despite revenue of around $3.7 billion, according to the New York Times.
Generative AI models, trained on vast amounts of data to produce high-quality text, images and other content, are power-hungry and require cutting-edge microchips like those from NVIDIA, which are very expensive .
OpenAI and Sam Altman, co-founder and emblematic boss of the young company, must also face legal proceedings launched by Elon Musk, director of the new AI company xAI launched in 2023 and future member of Donald Trump’s administration .
At the beginning of December, Elon Musk again asked the American courts to prevent OpenAI from transforming into an entirely for-profit company.
