OpenAI’s background: OpenAI started in 2015 as a research lab co-founded by Sam Altman and Elon Musk with a non-profit mission. In 2019, to fund expensive AI development, OpenAI created a hybrid for-profit entity with a capped-profit model – investors can earn returns up to a certain limit, after which the majority of profits return to the original non-profit to support its mission reuters.com. This structure is highly unusual, and it’s part of why OpenAI hasn’t gone public yet. Altman has openly said he’s wary of an IPO in the near term, joking that he doesn’t want to be “sued by…Wall Street” for making unconventional decisions in pursuit of long-term AGI goals reuters.com. In his view, public market pressure might conflict with OpenAI’s mission. That said, the company’s recent actions suggest change is on the horizon – more on that in the outlook section.
