Could AI relationships actually be good for us? T here is much anxiety these days about the dangers of human-AI relationships. Reports of suicide and self-harm attributable to interactions with chatbots have understandably made headlines. The phrase " AI psychosis " has been used to describe the plight of people experiencing delusions, paranoia or dissociation after talking to large language models (LLMs). Our collective anxiety has been compounded by studies showing that young people are increasingly embracing the idea of AI relationships; half of teens chat with an AI companion at least a few times a month, with one in three finding conversations with AI " to be as satisfying or more satisfying than those with real life friends ".

OpenAI, the company that develops ChatGPT, has decided to cancel its plans to transform the organization into a for-profit company. Instead, the non-profit organization that founded OpenAI will continue to run the business as before. The for-profit plans, announced in December 2024, were justified at the time by a need to secure sufficient capital to keep developing expensive artificial general intelligence (AGI). Now, instead of a full conversion to a for-profit company, OpenAI's for-profit LLC will be transformed into a Public Benefit Corporation (PBC), which is a type of US company that's beholden to both its shareholders and its purpose-driven mission. The existing OpenAI non-profit organization will retain control of the PBC and become one of its largest shareholders.

In the latest development in an ongoing struggle over OpenAI's future direction--and potentially the future of artificial intelligence itself--dozens of prominent figures are urging the Attorneys General of California and Delaware to block OpenAI's controversial plan to convert from its unique nonprofit-controlled structure to a for-profit company. In a letter made public April 23, signatories including "AI Godfather" Geoffrey Hinton, Harvard legal professor Lawrence Lessig, and several former OpenAI researchers argue the move represents a fundamental betrayal of OpenAI's founding mission. "The proposed restructuring would eliminate essential safeguards, effectively handing control of, and profits from, what could be the most powerful technology ever created to a for-profit entity with legal duties to prioritize shareholder returns," the letter's authors write. It lands as OpenAI faces immense pressure from the other side: failing to implement the restructure by the end of the year could cost the company 20 billion and hamstring future fundraising. OpenAI was founded in 2015 as a non-profit, with its stated mission being to ensure that artificial general intelligence (AGI) "benefits all of humanity" rather than advancing "the private gain of any person."

A group of organizations, including nonprofits like LatinoProsperity and labor groups like the California Teamsters, are petitioning California Attorney General Rob Bonta to stop OpenAI from becoming a for-profit entity, The Los Angeles Times reports. OpenAI announced plans to transition to a public-benefit corporation in 2024, and reportedly has two years to pull it off or risk a large portion of the money its raised become debt. The group's primary concerns are that OpenAI "failed to protect its charitable assets" and is actively "subverting its charitable mission to advance safe artificial intelligence." OpenAI started as a nonprofit research organization studying AI, but transitioned to a for-profit company that's overseen and run by a nonprofit in 2019. That structure is legally allowed in the state of California, but the group's petition claims that OpenAI's decision to pursue a new structure is driven by a desire not to further its mission, but to provide "AI's benefits -- the potential for untold profits and control over what may become powerful world-altering technologies -- to a handful of corporate investors and high-level employees."

OpenAI has laid out a plan to revamp its corporate structure next year, saying it would create a public benefit corporation to manage its growing business and ease the restrictions imposed by its current non-profit parent. Rumors have swirled that OpenAI was in the process of shifting to a largely for-profit company, but this is the first time it has detailed the proposal publicly. Under the proposed structure, the public benefit corporation, which is a for-profit corporate entity, will run and control OpenAI's operations and business, while the non-profit will hire a leadership team and staff for charitable initiatives in sectors such as healthcare, education and science. This new structure will give the for-profit arm of OpenAI much more control. In a blogpost, the company said it is "a stronger non-profit supported by the for-profit's success".

Following months of speculation, OpenAI has finally shared how it plans to become a for-profit company. In a blog post penned by its board of directors, OpenAI said Thursday it plans to transform its for-profit arm into a Public Benefit Corporation sometime in 2025. PBCs or B Corps are for-profit organizations that attempt to balance the interests of their stakeholders while making a positive impact on society. "As we enter 2025, we will have to become more than a lab and a startup -- we have to become an enduring company," OpenAI said, adding that many of its competitors are registered as PBCs, including Anthropic and even Elon Musk's own xAI. "[The move] would enable us to raise the necessary capital with conventional terms like others in this space."

OpenAI's plan to become a for-profit company could encourage the artificial intelligence startup to cut corners on safety, a whistleblower has said. William Saunders, a former research engineer at OpenAI, told the Guardian he was concerned by reports that the ChatGPT developer was preparing to change its corporate structure and would no longer be controlled by its non-profit board. Saunders, who flagged his concerns in testimony to the US Senate this month, said he was also concerned by reports that OpenAI's chief executive, Sam Altman, could hold a stake in the restructured business. "I'm most concerned about what this means for governance of safety decisions at OpenAI," he said. "If the non-profit board is no longer in control of these decisions and Sam Altman holds a significant equity stake, this creates more incentive to race and cut corners."

OpenAI is reportedly pushing ahead with plans to become a for-profit company, as more senior figures left the ChatGPT developer after the surprise exit of its chief technology officer, Mira Murati. The San Francisco-based startup is preparing to change its corporate structure as it seeks 6.5bn ( 4.9bn) of new funding, according to reports. Under the changes, OpenAI will become a for-profit benefit corporation – an entity that makes profits but is committed to the social and public good – that will no longer be controlled by its nonprofit board, Reuters reported. OpenAI declined to comment on the details of the reports but a spokesperson said the nonprofit entity would continue to exist. "We remain focused on building AI that benefits everyone, and we're working with our board to ensure that we're best positioned to succeed in our mission. The nonprofit is core to our mission and will continue to exist," said the spokesperson.

A major shakeup is in the works at OpenAI. Reuters reported that the artificial intelligence research company is restructuring its business from a non-profit board into a for-profit corporation. The publication also says Sam Altman would be given equity in the new corporation. OpenAI's move to for-profit wouldn't eliminate its non-profit entity entirely. The non-profit would own a stake in the new for-profit venture but it won't have nearly the power as it did.

Elon Musk supported making OpenAI a for-profit company, the ChatGPT maker said, attacking a lawsuit from the wealthy investor who has accused the artificial intelligence business of betraying its founding goal to benefit humanity as it pursued profits instead. In its first response since the Tesla CEO sued last week, OpenAI vowed to get the claim thrown out and released emails from Musk, escalating the feud between the San Francisco-based company and the billionaire that bankrolled its creation years ago. "The mission of OpenAI is to ensure AGI benefits all of humanity, which means both building safe and beneficial AGI and helping create broadly distributed benefits," OpenAI said in a blog post late Tuesday from five company executives and computer scientists, including CEO Sam Altman. "We intend to move to dismiss all of Elon's claims." AGI refers to artificial general intelligence, which are general purpose AI systems that can perform just as well as -- or even better than -- humans in a wide variety of tasks.