OpenAI says it needs more money as the ChatGPT maker seeks a for-profit structure

• OpenAI, an artificial intelligence startup, said it needed to raise more capital than expected and laid out plans to transition to a for-profit structure next year.

• The ChatGPT maker said its existing for-profit division will become a public company with common shares.

• It is planned to maintain a non-profit arm that will carry out charitable initiatives.

OpenAI, an artificial intelligence (AI) startup, said on Friday it would need to raise more money than expected to achieve its goals and laid out plans to transition to a for-profit structure.

OpenAI was founded as a non-profit organization with the stated mission of “building safe and useful artificial general intelligence for the benefit of humanity.” However, the company has since moved to a hybrid limited-profit structure, in which a for-profit subsidiary is controlled by its nonprofit arm to raise the funds to support its work.

“The hundreds of billions of dollars that major companies are now investing in AI development shows what OpenAI really needs to continue the mission,” OpenAI said in a blog post on Friday, adding that it was “raising more capital must as “we had imagined it.”

The ChatGPT maker said it plans to reorganize into a public benefit corporation (PBC) with common stock next year. The PBC will manage and control OpenAI’s operations, while its nonprofit arm will hire a leadership team and staff “to pursue nonprofit initiatives.”

The new structure will “better enable each arm to do its part,” it said.

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