OpenAI non-profit org restructures with majority stake in for-profit business

Microsoft now holds a significant stake in the ChatGPT maker.

OpenAI has completed a restructuring of the company that now leaves it broken into two distinct businesses: a non-profit called the OpenAI Foundation, and a for-profit called OpenAI Group PBC. Microsoft, which has put a key emphasis on AI in its own products and services, currently owns 27 percent of OpenAI’s for-profit business.

OpenAI announced its corporate restructuring in a blog post. In it, the company says that its non-profit is committing $25 billion to advancements in health and minimizing the risks of AI. The non-profit holds approximately $130 billion in stake in OpenAI’s for-profit business. “The more OpenAI succeeds as a company, the more the non-profit’s equity stake will be worth, which the non-profit will use to fund its philanthropic work,” writes Bret Taylor, Chair of the OpenAI Board of Directors.

In a separate post, OpenAI provides an update on its relationship with Microsoft, which dates back to 2019. Microsoft supported the decision to create a for-profit arm of its business, and the company’s $135 billion stake in it represents 27% of the company’s shares.

OpenAI says that as part of its new deal with Microsoft, when the company eventually claims to have achieved AGI (artificial general intelligence), that claim will need to be verified by an “independent expert panel.” OpenAI has continued to expand its AI offerings, recently launching its own browser and releasing a new version of its Sora video generator.