ChatGPT is on its way to becoming a for-profit company

OpenAI, the parent company of ChatGPT, has set new milestones on the path to becoming a for-profit company. The operation should allow it to raise more capital to develop its artificial intelligence tools.

“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 – the one which sells, for example, subscriptions to the more advanced version of ChatGPT – into a for-profit corporation with shares, while maintaining a non-profit entity.

The operation should allow it to raise more capital to develop its artificial intelligence tools.

A management team and staff

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 concluded a major fundraising of 6.6 billion dollars, which then valued it at 157 billion. At the same time, it confirmed that it wanted to become a for-profit company. Because the start-up, still unknown to the public two years ago, is far from profitable. OpenAI expected to lose around $5 billion this yeardespite a turnover 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 expensive. OpenAI and Sam Altman, the co-founder and emblematic boss of the start-up, must also face legal proceedings launched by Elon Musk, boss of the AI ​​startup xAI launched in 2023, and future member of the administration of Donald Trump.

At the beginning of December, Elon Musk has once again asked the American justice system to prevent OpenAI from transforming into an entirely for-profit company. (ag/ats)

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