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OpenAI is reportedly going all-in as a for-profit company
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- garyclarke27 2y agoI'm guessing that Sam Altman will get a few shares, when OpenAI drops the non-profit structure. Always thought it strange that he had no shares, especially considering his VC background.
- jgalt212 2y agoSam doesn't get paid on the money OpenAI makes, I suspect he gets paid on the money OpenAI spends.
- gwern 2y ago> An OpenAI spokesperson told Fortune and Reuters that the company's non-profit arm is "core to our mission and will continue to exist," as OpenAI stays "focused on building AI that benefits everyone." Not exactly a denial that the nonprofit board is going to lose all its governance powers and become a rump (just a shell for enough equity to provide a fiduciary defense to fend off the inevitable lawsuits).
- awestley 2y ago"Didn't see this coming" - No one ever
- fuzzythinker 2y agoReally did not in the first year or two.
- dmitrygr 2y agoGuess you never met sam altman
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- dmitrygr 2y agoFamous grifter seeks grift. News at 11. We knew this would happen after the board tried to prevent it and failed.
- chomp 2y agoSo do non 501c3s mean nothing now? (I guess you could argue that they never meant much?) Is bootstrapping as a nonprofit intended to reduce tax burden? What’s the point of being a non-profit?
- JohnFen 2y ago> What’s the point of being a non-profit? In this case, to trick everyone into thinking OpenAI is a "good guy".
- Yizahi 2y agoSteal everyone's copyrighted materials under the guise of "fair use", process them, then go full capitalism as if nothing happened. First benefit is that they don't have to pay for any stolen content, second - all competitors will be left in the dust, since they can't easily replicate this trick.
- aurareturn 2y agoIs this some kind of loophole? Start a non-profit with a noble mission. Get $130.5 million in donations without giving out any shares. Make a product. Renounce non-profit mission. Convert to a for-profit.
- innagadadavida 2y agoMore than the money, they were able to attract top talent and avoid regulations and senate hearings by calling themselves OpenAI. Genius move even by scamster standards.
- benterix 2y agoWhen accused of copyright infringement, they could also say, "But we are a non-profit, we are just advancing the progress of science!"
- anticensor 2y agoIt's not like a for-profit cannot do scientific research.
- benterix 2y agoYes, but... > The fair use statute itself indicates that nonprofit educational purposes are generally favored over commercial uses. [0] https://copyright.columbia.edu/basics/fair-use.html https://copyright.columbia.edu/basics/fair-use.html
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- gamblor956 2y agoThe consequence of renouncing non-profit status is that the $130.5m in donations is characterized as taxable income to the corporation, and the IRS can impose penalties and interest dating back to the formation of the corporation (i.e., it can pierce the non-profit veil). So, not a loophole in the sense that the entity will be subject to tax. And saavy donors will usually have a conversion clause that either converts their donation to a capital contribution in the event that non-profit status is lost, or rescinds their donation. But that would require having donors that don't believe they know everything about everything and poo-poo safeguards like that...
- elijahwright 2y agoWe should nationalize OpenAI as punishment for the flagrant copyright violation they've taken part in. Either give every aggrieved author points in the company, or fine them for something like the GDP of the entire planet (round up - to maybe fifty trillion dollars?) and establish a fund that pays for global education and the production of new works. They literally are thieves of the world's entire intellectual output. "For training the model", they say. Yeah, there's a lot of bullshit going around.
- falcor84 2y ago>They literally are thieves of the world's entire intellectual output. I recall hearing these accusations two decades ago about Google and particularly Google Books. And here I am, an average Joe on the internet, being able to get in a few minutes the specific information I am looking for about any subject, which would have taken me a few days of perusing a library and its databases. If this is thieving, to me it's as if Robin Hood came to town.
- EMIRELADERO 2y agoDaily reminder: "As we get closer to building AI, it will make sense to start being less open. The Open in OpenAI means that everyone should benefit from the fruits of AI after its built, but it's totally OK to not share the science (even though sharing everything is definitely the right strategy in the short and possibly medium term for recruitment purposes)." -Ilya Sutskever (email to Elon musk and Sam Altman, 2016)
- reducesuffering 2y agoOh good, the company that can't even align its people and product to its non-profit mission is also telling you they'll eventually align superintelligence and surely not be outmaneuvered. "Currently, we don't have a solution for steering or controlling a potentially superintelligent AI, and preventing it from going rogue"[0] -OpenAI Ya don't say? [0]https://openai.com/index/introducing-superalignment/ https://openai.com/index/introducing-superalignment/
- ajbt200128 2y agoGlad they're finally taking the mask off. Hope the IRS clawsback as much as they can
- luminadiffusion 2y agoWho knew that OpenAI really meant "Open for business AI"?