The company responsible for ChatGPT has a plan to make itself more attractive to investors: remove all power of control from its original, non-profit structure. At the same time, it plans to give 7% stake to its CEO Sam Altman. At the same time, three new departures were announced in its management, including CTO Mira Murati.
This is a new twist in the structure of OpenAI. According to sources from the Reuters news agency, the creator of ChatGPT would make sure to avoid control of the board of directors of its non-profit structure to more easily attract investors.
This non-profit structure would not be completely abolished and would retain a minority stake in the company, at the risk of it becoming little more than an empty shell.
Last June, CEO Sam Altman was already considering this possibility and had informed certain shareholders of the company.
Radical change compared to the initial project
Heart of the OpenAI project launched in 2015, the non-profit structure set up by 11 people of which Elon Musk and Sam Altman were co-presidents, set itself the goal of “ advance digital intelligence in ways most likely to benefit humanity as a whole, without being constrained by the need to generate a financial return ».
It then drifted towards a risk control function for AI created by the project’s engineers and researchers and sold by the profit-making structure. This new change should therefore have consequences on the way in which these risks are managed within OpenAI.
However, in a statement obtained by Bloomberg, OpenAI asserts that it remains “ focused on building AI that benefits everyone » and assures that “ the non-profit organization is at the heart of [leur] mission and will continue to exist » without us knowing what his role will be in the new organization.
Remember that in November 2023, during a crazy week, Sam Altman was fired from OpenAI before being reinstated, with a new board of directors. He had to wait until last March to rejoin this board.
7 % for Altman…
Another big change at OpenAI could be coming. The company is also considering giving a share in its capital to its CEO, Sam Altman, for the first time, Reuters explained. Bloomberg is talking about 7% of the company, which, given the company’s current valuation of $150 billion, would equate to $10.5 billion for Sam Altman.
…and three departures from the management team
Finally, the company is experiencing, at the same time, the departure of three of its managers, including its CTO Mira Murati. She announced the news on Wednesday September 25 via a tweet in which she said she was withdrawing “ because [elle voulait] give yourself the time and space you need » for his own projects, without dwelling on other reasons. According to Reuters, she remains with the company for the moment while taking the time to negotiate her departure. In a long tweet, Sam Altman made it clear that Mira Murati had only warned him that morning.
Remember that, during the famous week last November, she was briefly appointed interim CEO before signing with more than 500 of her colleagues a letter of support for Sam Altman.
The company’s Vice President of Research, Barret Zoph, and Chief Research Officer Bob McGrew, both added to the long list of OpenAI leaders who decided to leave recently.
