Business Desk 
May 06, 2025
Long after battling opposition from its co-founder, Elon Musk, OpenAI has scrapped its plan to transition into a fully for-profit company, choosing instead to keep its nonprofit governance intact.
The artificial intelligence (AI) giant's decision comes after increasing pressure from regulators and ethics advocates, not to mention Musk, warning that becoming a for-profit firm could undermine the development of AI.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman confirmed the termination of for-profit transition in a message to staff on Monday, which was published on OpenAI’s website later.
“We decided for the nonprofit to stay in control,” he said, following discussions with officials in California and Delaware, adding that the nonprofit board will allow the company to pursue “rapid, safe progress” in AI.
OpenAI's 2024 proposal to become a public benefit corporation aimed to offer more investment structures but led to a controversy when Musk resorted to sue the company, noting that the shift would betray its original purpose.
Despite the aforementioned hindrances and some other internal conflicts, OpenAI has been a major player in the AI race, whose biggest credit goes to ChatGPT and other similar innovations.
