OpenAI Transformation Plan Finalized: Announced Abandonment of Profitization, Sam Altman Insists It Will Not Affect Fundraising

After undergoing internal discussions and external controversies, ChatGPT developer OpenAI announced the cancellation of its plans to fully transform the organization into a for-profit company. In the future, it will maintain a structure led by a non-profit organization, while transforming its for-profit business sector into a social enterprise. CEO Sam Altman emphasized that this will not affect the company's ability to continuously raise substantial funds to develop artificial intelligence.

Plan Reversal: Maintain Non-Profit Structure, Transform into a Public Welfare Enterprise

OpenAI announced today through its official blog that it will abandon plans to fully or partially transform the organization into a for-profit company, and instead will only transform the current for-profit business division into a "Public Benefit Corporation (, abbreviated as PBC)", which will continue to be controlled by the original non-profit organization.

4 facts about our structure:

-OpenAI will continue to be controlled by the current nonprofit

-Our existing for-profit will become a Public Benefit Corporation

-Nonprofit will control & be a significant owner of the PBC

-Nonprofit & PBC will continue to have the same mission

— OpenAI (@OpenAI) May 5, 2025

As previously reported, PBC is a for-profit company that combines shareholder interests with stakeholders and the public interest, and for OpenAI, it can raise a lot of money under traditional conditions while balancing its philosophy. But for Microsoft (Microsoft), a big investor, this could affect the symbiotic relationship between the two parties, the latter's vested interests.

(OpenAI announces its transformation into a public welfare corporation, directly conflicting with Microsoft's interests)

OpenAI also stated in a tweet this morning: "OpenAI was established as a nonprofit organization, and it is still overseen and controlled by a nonprofit board, and this will continue in the future."

Sam Altman: The fundraising will not be affected, and resources for AI development remain abundant.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman reiterated in an internal letter to employees his grand ambition to ensure that general artificial intelligence (AGI) can benefit all of humanity, emphasizing that even if the company completely abandons monetization, its fundraising ability will not be limited as a result:

Even though the resources required to develop AI have currently reached hundreds of billions of dollars and may even require trillions of dollars in the future, we still believe this is the most ideal path forward: "AGI should enable all of humanity to help each other." We also understand that some people hold completely different views on this.

However, last year, OpenAI claimed that in order to obtain sufficient funding to support the enormous computational demands of AI models, monetization is a "necessary step."

Ongoing Controversy Over Transformation: Musk Accuses OpenAI of Betraying Its Original Intent

OpenAI was founded in 2015 as a non-profit organization, and in 2019 it established a for-profit arm to facilitate fundraising, but it is still controlled by the original non-profit organization. This dual structure sparked intense controversy in 2024.

Tesla CEO and OpenAI co-founder Elon Musk filed a lawsuit in court in November 2024, accusing Altman of violating commitments made regarding initial donations to OpenAI. He alleged that Altman "deliberately misled" him into co-founding OpenAI while secretly planning to transform it into a for-profit company.

(Musk accuses OpenAI of colluding with Microsoft to suppress xAI development: swindled over 40 million dollars, Altman and Stripe are enriching themselves)

Elon Musk has now founded another AI company, xAI, whose chatbot Grok he himself calls a victim of OpenAI's "anti-competitive behavior."

The commercial potential remains optimistic, with valuation and revenue continuing to rise.

Despite the cancellation of its monetization plans, OpenAI estimates that its revenue will still grow significantly in the future. According to a Bloomberg report in March, OpenAI expects its revenue to reach $12.7 billion by 2025, and rise further to $29.4 billion by 2026.

( OpenAI's $40 billion fundraising deal finalized! Valuation skyrockets to $300 billion, led by SoftBank and Microsoft )

In addition, OpenAI just received $40 billion in funding from SoftBank and Microsoft in March of this year, with a valuation reaching $300 billion, indicating that the market remains optimistic about its growth potential.

This article on OpenAI's transformation plan has been finalized: it announces the abandonment of monetization, and Sam Altman emphasizes that it does not affect fundraising. It first appeared in Chain News ABMedia.