32
OpenAI scuttles for-profit transformation (www.axios.com)
submitted 1 year ago by to c/techtakes@awful.systems
8 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Kind of sounds like ultimately it would have been very illegal to do.

"We made the decision for the nonprofit to retain control of OpenAI after hearing from civic leaders and engaging in constructive dialogue with the offices of the Attorney General of Delaware and the Attorney General of California," OpenAI board chairman Bret Taylor said in a statement.

Asked about Musk's suit on a call with reporters, Altman said, "You all are obsessed with Elon, that's your job — like, more power to you. But we are here to think about our mission and figure out how to enable that. And that mission has not changed."

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] 16 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

This kills the OpenAI doesn't it? Im out at town at the moment so i cant easily check, I seem to recall that a large part of their existing investment rounds convert to debt if they can't reorganize.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • hideshow 6 child comments
    •
  • [–] 9 points 1 year ago

    (caveats: ianal, and not familiar enough with US corp law)

    took a brief look at this last night and no, don’t think it entirely kills it. they’re changing two notable things: one is converting from whatever they are into a Public Benefit Corp, and the second is turning their weirdo ownership thing into actual stock

    while those AG paragraphs do indeed indicate that they got told to get fucked, perverse incentives still apply and saltman still needs to try find a way out of the squeeze they’re in. don’t think they’d be doing either of those changes if they didn’t see a possible path to exploiting it

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 4 points 1 year ago*

    Yeah, SoftBank is dropping from 30 billion to 20 billion. But there are some huge doubts whether SoftBank could have even raised the 20, so I'm secretly thinking this "sudden choice" has more to do with the fact that SoftBank has issued raising the money.

    Another 10 billion is from a "Syndicate" of other investors and it also hinges on a for-profit status.

    But it's important to note that the 20 billion they're not getting would have arrived at the end of the year earliest.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent