That is the most distant definition from "necessity" i can think of.
It is a sign of the rapid transformation of our world that the above statement is simultaneously true and completely missing the context here.
Why? Think about the context of OpenAI's founding. As I remember it, OpenAI wanted to offer an alternative locus of power compared to Google and Facebook around AI. They wanted to have the spotlight to talk about broader topics and share advancements more broadly.
To accomplish that mission, there are many hard compromises that have to be met.
To be clear, I'm not assessing how well OpenAI did. I don't know the right answers.
Rather, I'm pointing out the constraints in their space are substantial. I don't think anyone can dispute the upsides of having a large budget -- to hire in-demand experts and train expensive models. What are the best ways to acquire this funding? I think there are many thought experiments to conduct and cross-comparisons to make.
I’m going to trust them on their reasoning, but with that premise what are the options here if they lack required resources?
If they to avoid what is dubbed a “sell” option to private money, the other option is to get some public funding or to be honest about the issue and close the shop.