Inside the Battle Over OpenAI's Corporate Restructuring

Last October, the news that OpenAI was planning to simplify its unusual nonprofit structure caught the attention of economic-justice activist Orson Aguilar. He feared that the ChatGPT maker's plan to transition into a more conventional company, from which investors could generate unlimited returns, would financially hurt the working-class communities he has spent nearly 30 years fighting to protect. Aguilar's new organization, LatinoProsperity, focuses on intergenerational wealth building, and he believed cutting-edge AI chatbots such as ChatGPT would become an integral part of many good-paying jobs of the future. But after reading about OpenAI's desires, he worried that transitioning into a public-benefit corporation empowered to chase profits would enrich the already wealthy and neglect the startup's stated mission to benefit all of humanity with AI. Aguilar decided to make a phone call that day, kicking off a series of events that eventually led him to become one of the leading voices battling over OpenAI's future and the establishment of what may become the deepest-pocketed charitable foundation in the world. Today, OpenAI's for-profit business is controlled by a nonprofit, and the returns for investors are capped.