Discussion

• @caseynewton Casey Newton on bluesky

  A little something for the mid-holiday news dump hall of fame www.theverge.com/2024/12/27/ 2...

• @justinhendrix Justin Hendrix on bluesky

  “In a company blog post published on Friday, OpenAI said it planned to restructure as a public benefit corporation, or P.B.C., which is a for-profit corporation designed to create public and social good.  OpenAI rivals like Anthropic and Elon Musk's xAI use a similar structure.”

• @kyunghyuncho @kyunghyuncho on bluesky

  however nicely it's put, it simply means that OpenAI is now a fully for-profit entity (yeah yeah PBC blah blah) and that the non-profit arm is just a separate entity with a small amount of shares of the for-profit entity however without any control beyond these shares.  —  openai…

• @tsarnick @tsarnick on x

  Marc Andreessen says that transitioning from a nonprofit to a for-profit like OpenAI is seeking to do is usually constrained by federal tax law and other legal regimes and historically when you appropriate a non-profit for personal wealth, you go to jail.  Transitions of this typ…

• @danprimack Dan Primack on x

  OpenAI: “We once again need to raise more capital than we'd imagined. Investors want to back us but, at this scale of capital, need conventional equity and less structural bespokeness.” https://openai.com/...

• @miles_brundage Miles Brundage on x

  First, just noting that I agree that AI is capital intensive in a way that was less clear at the time of OpenAI's founding, and that a pure non-profit didn't work given that. And given the current confusing bespoke structure, some simplification is very reasonable to consider.

• @miles_brundage Miles Brundage on x

  Glad to see OpenAI sharing their latest thinking re: corporate structure, and a lot of the explanation makes sense. However, there are some red flags here that need to be urgently addressed + better explained publicly before the transition goes through.🧵

• @miles_brundage Miles Brundage on x

  Beyond those points, though, I have serious disagreements/concerns. First, there is surprisingly little discussion of actual governance details, despite this arguably being the key issue. What will the vote/share split be between different constituencies + considerations?

• @chetanp Chetan Puttagunta on x

  It really does seem like it comes down to Microsoft agreeing to changing their agreement. This is stood out to me: “It will enable us to raise the necessary capital with conventional terms like others in this space.”

• @benjamindekr Benjamin De Kraker on x

  OpenAI becoming CLOSED AI — transitioning to a for-profit structure. Inevitable but kind of sad.

• @danielnewmanuv Daniel Newman on x

  The developing situation at OpenAI is really interesting. Today it announced its official intent to convert to a PBC (Public Benefactor Corporation) with a dual mandate but a traditional stock/governance structure so it could more easily raise capital for its rapidly rising

• @kchonyc Kyunghyun Cho on x

  however nicely it's put, it simply means that OpenAI is now a fully for-profit entity (yeah yeah PBC blah blah) and that the non-profit arm is just a separate entity with a small number of shares of the for-profit entity however without any control beyond these shares.

• @edkrassen Ed Krassenstein on x

  @OpenAI Will we see anything become open source?

• @teknium1 @teknium1 on x

  “Our plan would create one of the best-resourced non-profits in history” Maybe i don't understand but isn't it as it is an even better resourced non profit right now then it will be? lol

• @pitdesi Sheel Mohnot on x

  Annoying to have gotten the structure wrong initially OpenAI Inc. will be a public benefit corp OpenAI charity has a stake in the PBC to fund education, health, science work... will be very well-resourced They'll be controlled separately They go after Elon a bit [image]

• @nathanbenaich Nathan Benaich on x

  My op-ed in the @FT on October 6, 2024: “But there is no inherent conflict between running a straightforward for-profit company and building safe, robust technology. Reckless behaviour that regulates an industry out of existence endangers profits. Companies like Google [image]

• @emostaque Emad on x

  To summarise: OpenAI inc => PBC structure like @xai, @AnthropicAI etc that takes full control of tech OpenAI charity has a stake in that that it can use to fund education, health, science work Could up close to @AnthropicAI in governance if they do this correctly.

• @sirajraval Siraj Raval on x

  I appreciate how thoughtful OpenAI still is about decentralizing AI, this is a great move. “Our plan is to transform our existing for-profit into a Delaware Public Benefit Corporation”

• @openai @openai on x

  OpenAI's Board of Directors is evaluating our corporate structure with the goal of making a stronger non-profit supported by the for-profit's success. Our plan would create one of the best-resourced non-profits in history. https://openai.com/...

• r/OpenAI r on reddit

  This restructuring will determine if Open AI is still around in 2026

• r/singularity r on reddit

  “OpenAI's Board of Directors is evaluating our corporate structure with the goal of making a stronger non-profit supported by the for-profit's success.”

• @billkuchman Bill Kuchman on bluesky

  Sci-fi books and movies: It's going to take all of Earth's resources, but we can build this spaceship to save humanity/fight off alien invaders.  —  Reality: It's going to take all of Earth's resources, but can build this search engine that kinda works and is trained on stuff we …

• @pauldauenhauer Paul J. Dauenhauer on bluesky

  When bubbles burst, a small opening in the surfactant film results in millisecond retraction of the entire film driven by extremely high local surface tension  —  www.cnbc.com/2024/12/27/o...

• @kevinhargaden Kevin Hargaden on bluesky

  Policing $200bn  —  Agriculture $150bn  —  Education $800bn  —  Computer Imaginary friends $3,600bn  —  Climate adaptation $150bn  —  someone who is good at the economy please help me budget this.  my society is dying  —  www.cnbc.com/2024/12/27/o...

• @edzitron.com Ed Zitron on bluesky

  Yeah I need way more money than anyone ever got before.  I need it because my shit is difficult right now.  But it's important in ways even I haven't been able to work out.  OpenAI is a serious business.  Help me.  Please help me please my serious company is so good.  Help me  — …

• @theopriestley.com Theo on bluesky

  $6Bn in October wasn't enough to keep Altman & Co in the grifter lifestyle they're accustomed to with homes, secret bunkers and the odd Koenigsegg on the driveway so they need more.  —  Is the penny dropping yet?  —  www.cnbc.com/2024/12/27/o...

• @downtownjoshbrown Downtown Josh Brown on bluesky

  Sam Altman is now saying, basically, that there is no end in sight to the amount of money he'll need to raise to keep OpenAI competitive.  Meanwhile, he still owns no shares in and it's unclear where the charity ends and the for-profit begins.  $157 billion valuation.  —  www.cnb…

• @maxkennerly Max Kennerly on bluesky

  “OpenAI expects about $5 billion in losses on $3.7 billion in revenue this year, CNBC confirmed in September.  Those numbers are increasing rapidly.”  —  What sets OpenAI apart from other Silicon Valley startups is: it has no way to profit from scale.  It'll always lose money on …

• @davidwunderlich David Wunderlich on bluesky

  “We once again need to raise more capital than we'd imagined.”  —  Not likely more than they imagined, given that @edzitron.com was able to predict the imminent need for another large capital raise with publicly available information.  [embedded post]

• @miles_brundage Miles Brundage on x

  Third, while there is a ton of potential for a well-capitalized non-profit to drive “charitable initiatives in sectors such as health care, education, and science,” that is a very narrow scope relative to the original OpenAI mission. What about advancing safety and good policy?

• r/OpenAI r on reddit

  OpenAI says it needs 'more capital than we'd imagined' as it lays out for-profit plan - I mean, he did say $7 Trillion...