Altman made everybody fools initially telling everybody, that he is collecting money, so OpenAI will save the humanity (from what, exactly?). Now, when profits are possible, these profits will be out to Microsoft and other later investors. Humanity is sitting in the corner and crying.
The claim that Sam Altman intentionally misled the public about OpenAI's original mission to benefit humanity and save it from unspecified dangers has a complex background and is a subject of ongoing debate and controversy.
OpenAI's founding and initial mission
Original non-profit mission: OpenAI was founded in 2015 as a non-profit research laboratory with the stated goal of ensuring that artificial general intelligence (AGI) "benefits all of humanity".
Focus on safety: The original vision, shared by co-founders like Sam Altman and Elon Musk, was to develop AGI in a way that prioritized safety and did not fall under the control of a single corporation.
Initial capital: The original founders and investors pledged $1 billion to fund the effort, though the actual amount raised was significantly less during the non-profit phase.
The shift to a for-profit structure
In 2019, OpenAI created a for-profit subsidiary, OpenAI LP, to attract the massive capital and talent needed to compete in the escalating AI race. Key aspects of this transition include:
Capped-profit model: The new structure was designed to attract investment while a non-profit board retained control and ensured profits were capped.
Justification for the change: OpenAI argued that the immense financial resources required for training large AI models could not be secured under a purely non-profit model.
Criticism from Musk: Co-founder Elon Musk, who left OpenAI's board in 2018, later sued the company, alleging it had abandoned its founding mission in pursuit of profit. A lawsuit he filed in 2024 is currently pending.
The role of Microsoft and profit distribution
Microsoft is the most prominent investor in OpenAI and has a significant revenue-sharing agreement.
Investment: Microsoft has invested billions in OpenAI, acquiring a 49% stake in the profits of the for-profit subsidiary until its investment is returned.
Benefits to Microsoft: This deal has given Microsoft access to OpenAI's AI technology for integration into its own products, such as Azure cloud services.
Ongoing legal questions: Questions about whether OpenAI's shift away from its non-profit roots violates charitable trust law in states like California and Delaware have prompted investigations by state attorneys general.
Ongoing concerns about mission drift
The concerns about potential "deception" reflect broader anxieties and criticisms that have followed OpenAI since its shift in 2019:
Balancing profit and mission: OpenAI has repeatedly had to navigate the tension between generating revenue to fund expensive AI development and staying true to its original goal of benefiting humanity.
Governance structure debates: The 2023 ousting and subsequent reinstatement of Sam Altman as CEO highlighted ongoing internal conflicts over OpenAI's direction, particularly its balance between safety and commercialization.
Legal scrutiny: The ongoing legal challenges from Elon Musk and state attorneys general suggest that the governance model, though unusual, has yet to be definitively settled in the eyes of the law.
“Microsoft and OpenAI said they have reached a deal to extend their partnership, an apparent detente between the companies that could ease the startup's path toward changing its structure to include a for-profit corporation.
The agreement, which has yet to be completed, comes after tensions boiled over between the companies. Microsoft was one of OpenAI's earliest partners and is among its largest investors, integrating the company's technology into many of its products. But it also has a stranglehold over the startup, given that Microsoft is OpenAI's exclusive cloud provider and has access to its latest technology.
The companies didn't disclose the terms of the new contract and said the current agreement was nonbinding. It caps a summer of difficult negotiations between the two sides, which helped fuel one another's rise during the early years of the AI boom but have since grown into competitors.
The relationship at one point grew so fractious that OpenAI considered going to antitrust regulators to break out of the contract, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Sam Altman's OpenAI is also finalizing the ownership structure behind the new for-profit company it is trying to create. The company plans to keep the nonprofit's control over the new for-profit and endow it with a stake valued at more than $100 billion. That would make the nonprofit one of the largest philanthropies in the world on paper, although it is unclear how long it would take for funds to be available for distribution.
The announcement of a massive endowment for the nonprofit was disclosed just days after the Journal reported that OpenAI's executives were rattled by mounting pushback to the restructuring. The attorneys general in California and Delaware are investigating the startup to make sure the proposed plan doesn't violate charitable law.
Microsoft and the OpenAI nonprofit are each set to initially receive a roughly 30% stake in the proposed new company, according to people familiar with the matter. The rest will go to employees and investors, the people said.
OpenAI faces an array of opponents that are seeking to block its restructuring effort or intervening with regulators to ensure its nonprofit mission remains intact. They include billionaire Elon Musk, Meta Platforms and several advocacy organizations.
The agreement is a tentative win for OpenAI, which needed Microsoft to approve its for-profit plan before formally sharing it with state regulators.
News Corp, owner of The Wall Street Journal, has a content-licensing partnership with OpenAI.” [1]
1. Microsoft, OpenAI in Pact --- Agreement would remove a barrier for startup's plan to form for-profit unit. Berber, Jin. Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 12 Sep 2025: B4.
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