In a somewhat unexpected move, OpenAI is evolving its company structure — and not in the direction it appeared to be moving.
OpenAI LLC is the for-profit arm of the organization that runs products like ChatGPT. OpenAI Inc is the nonprofit arm that owns OpenAI LLC. On Monday, the company announced that OpenAI LLC would transition to a Public Benefit Corporation (PBC), with OpenAI Inc maintaining control as its largest shareholder.
(Disclosure: Ziff Davis, ZDNET’s parent company, filed an April 2025 lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.)
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Other AI companies, including Anthropic and X.ai, and retail companies like Allbirds and Patagonia, are set up as PBCs.
The shift to a PBC
OpenAI’s leaders have been in public turmoil over which direction to take the company in recent years, most notably in late 2023, when CEO Sam Altman was briefly ousted and then reinstated, reportedly over internal disagreements about pursuing profits over other, more mission-driven goals.
In a letter to employees announcing the shift to a PBC, Altman noted the previous structure was designed for an earlier time in the AI race, when OpenAI assumed it would be the dominant AI power. He added that the decision was influenced by feedback from civic leaders, including the attorneys general of California and Delaware, who, he said, will remain involved as the new structure unfolds.
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Altman’s description of the change, however, remained open-ended as to the company’s application standards. “We want to open source very capable models,” he wrote. “We want to give our users a great deal of freedom in how we let them use our tools within broad boundaries, even if we don’t always share the same moral framework, and to let our users make decisions about the behavior of ChatGPT.”
Ensuring AI benefits everyone
Altman said OpenAI products should be “super easy for people to use for whatever they want (subject to few restrictions; freedom shouldn’t impinge on other people’s freedom, for example).” Tonally, this aligns with recent shifts in OpenAI’s Model Spec, which lightened previous guidance on how the company’s large language models are used and emphasized “intellectual freedom” in how models are trained to respond.
“We want to make sure democratic AI wins over authoritarian AI,” he said.
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He also added that the company wants to “make sure AI benefits everyone — not just a few,” noting that an advisory commission will help OpenAI “focus on how our nonprofit work can support a more democratic AI future, and have real impact in areas like health, education, public services, and scientific discovery.”
However, technology for these areas of society — especially if deployed via public systems — is usually subject to more regulation than private consumer products like ChatGPT. OpenAI has shortened safety testing timelines in recent months, apparently to keep a competitive pace with Chinese AI labs, which have released notable models like DeepSeek and Manus.
Despite this, Altman emphasized a commitment to safety and alignment training in the announcement. “As AI accelerates, our commitment to safety grows stronger,” he wrote.
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