OpenAI was founded as a research laboratory with a humanity-oriented mission to develop artificial general intelligence. But over time, it became one of Silicon Valley’s best-funded companies. Now, the tension between these two situations is coming to light.
Weeks after introducing a new model, OpenAI is preparing to abandon its nonprofit status. While some of the company’s top employees are leaving, CEO Sam Altman is cementing his position as one of the tech world’s most powerful figures.
Mira Murati, OpenAI’s long-serving chief technology officer, announced Wednesday that she will be leaving the company to “devote time to her own discoveries.” On the same day, head of research Bob McGrew and vice president of post-training Barret Zoph also announced their resignations. Sam Altman described these changes as “a natural process for companies” but acknowledged that it was “not normal” for them to happen so suddenly.
These departures are a continuation of the resignations that followed last year’s failed impeachment attempt of Altman. Names such as Ilya Sutskever, one of the founders of OpenAI, and important researcher Jan Leike also left the company. Leike announced that he made this decision by stating that “security culture has fallen victim to product focus”.
Originally founded as a nonprofit research laboratory, OpenAI eventually formed a for-profit subsidiary, OpenAI LP. This structure allows the company to raise funds to develop artificial general intelligence, but the nonprofit arm’s mission is to work for the benefit of humanity.
The company’s website states that investors “would be wise to view an investment in OpenAI as a donation.” But the company has reportedly now reached a $150 billion valuation and has no path to profitability. Thrive does not have huge resources, unlike rivals such as OpenAI, Google and Meta, which are aiming to raise at least $250 million in funding from large investors such as Apple and a United Arab Emirates-backed investment firm.
Sam Altman told employees earlier this month that the company would become a for-profit entity next year. According to some reports, OpenAI is planning to transition to a public benefit company structure, but it is claimed that it will lose control of the non-profit arm in the process.
Is OpenAI putting security on the backburner?
OpenAI’s research-oriented structure is evolving into a product-oriented structure over time. Many employees joined the company to focus on artificial intelligence research, but the company’s transformation into a profit-oriented structure puts employees in a difficult situation. While research laboratories can focus on long-term projects without the pressure of product development, this is not possible in profit-oriented companies.
For example, a source who spoke to the Washington Post in July stated that GPT-4’s launch event was held before it was determined whether it was safe or not. It was also reported that the company’s security team was working 20-hour shifts and did not have time to fully perform security tests.
As a result, OpenAI is in the process of evolving from a research lab into a tech giant. Under the leadership of CEO Sam Altman, the company is moving toward a more commercial structure, and in the process there is a risk that its nonprofit mission will be left behind.