Group Wants California AG to Investigate OpenAI’s Nonprofit Status

Public Citizen on Tuesday called on the California Attorney General Robert Bonta to investigate whether OpenAI should retain its non-profit status based on recent news reports that suggest tthe nonprofit may be acting under the control of its for-profit subsidiary affiliate or prioritizing profit over its nonprofit purpose.

In a letter to Bonta, Public Citizen reviewed recent events the group says suggests OpenAI is now acting with a for-profit purpose. The letter also addresses the potential value of the nonprofit.

“Close observers of the recent tumult at OpenAI tell a consistent story about why its CEO Sam Altman was dismissed and then brought back: for-profit interests defeated non-profit considerations,” said Robert Weissman, president of Public Citizen and author of the letter. “The publicly available facts raise profound questions about whether OpenAI’s non-profit operates independently and controls the for-profit, or whether the for-profit entity now controls the non-profit. If the for-profit exerts effective control over the non-profit, or if profit-seeking is now the controlling motive at OpenAI, then it follows that the non-profit must be dissolved.”

In the event of a nonprofit’s dissolution or conversion, California law requires distribution of its assets to another charity with the same or similar purposes.