Rightly or wrongly, they believed AGI was inevitable but it would currently be reckless because it was going to end up in the hands of profit-maximizers Google

Rightly or wrongly, they believed AGI was inevitable but it would currently be reckless because it was going to end up in the hands of profit-maximizers Google or Facebook, so that they needed to get there first under a non-profit. Hindsight shows this was a dumb reckless move as they sped up timelines and the arms race by 3-10 years, and are showing no signs of restraint that was supposed to be their raison d'etre.