OpenAI CEO says company could become for-profit corporation, Information reports | Hacker News Reader

OpenAI CEO says company could become for-profit corporation, Information reports

reuters.com

Despite their models currently being the best available, I have started boycotting openAI for one simple reason. Their objectives, goals and behavior have undergone a dramatic shift to being profit centric, which means I can no longer trust their black boxes to process my information in a way that is not designed to exploit or mislead me more than it already prone to doing. Worse yet, glitchy behavior is expected of these things, so they could simply say oops, its just AI 'hallucinations' if caught out. There is little incentive not to, and plenty of convenient no fault 'excuses' out from under any real repercussions, which to me makes it exceedingly likely to happen.

> In response to Reuters' queries about the report, OpenAI said: "We remain focused on building AI that benefits everyone. The nonprofit is core to our mission and will continue to exist."

Emphasis mine.

I find this response to be hilariously contradictory. How would becoming a for-profit help a non-profit mission.

It's worth noting that Anthropic is a public benefit company, which means it's not required to pursue profit at all costs.

to fund it? there are plenty of non-profits with for-profit wings. ACS and CAS for example

This is currently the case. My takeaway is that Altman and Co want take OpenAI (the profit company) away from the nonprofit entity.

According to the article:

> the company is considering changing its governance structure to a for-profit business that the firm's nonprofit board doesn't control

Aaron has some biases but could be worth watching his reality check report from december 2023 "OpenAI, Inc. Video Reality Check: Decoding Non-Profit Tax Returns and Business Structure": https://youtu.be/PdQxPQf_1EQ

...and reading his perspective from November 2023 ( http://www.aarongreenspan.com/writing/20231122/openai-gets-p... ):

"They are smart people. About that I have no doubt. But I’ve seen how they treat rules. I know what they think of ethics.

Good idea?

Enter Larry Summers, who was just added to OpenAI’s Board of Directors—now that all the women are gone—to be Sam’s babysitter, so far as I can tell. Why? Because with Sam at the helm, OpenAI clearly violated its non-profit charter, repeatedly. The company is likely looking at an impending investigation by the California Attorney General, which has authority over tax-exempt organizations in the state, and perhaps an uncomfortable audit by the Internal Revenue Service as well. By having Larry on the Board, the company can plead that there’s now an “adult” in the house"

I want to know what difference it would make for the CEO’s compensation package.

Yep too much gatekeeping from all major players in the AI space.

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