Your shock likely reflects exactly the frustration remaining board members were having. OpenAI was originally and formally remains a non-profit whose idealist

Your shock likely reflects exactly the frustration remaining board members were having. OpenAI was originally and formally remains a non-profit whose idealist mission was the build safe AGI because they felt a private company or government achieving it first could be an existential threat to humanity. Thereafter, it experimented with a profit-making subsidiary managed by an experienced venture capitalist as a way to compete for talent and benefit from industry deals. Seeing OpenAI as a for-profit business is like calling the monster “Frankenstein”. It’s an intuitive thing to do, that everybody was doing, but you can see why the actual Doctor Frankenstein might be deeply frustrated by it.