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The Godfather of AI joins Elon Musk against OpenAI's for-profit transition

OpenAI logo with SoC

OpenAI has faced numerous backlashes from various sides since the moment it announced plans for transition to a for-profit model. While the AI firm argues that it needs funds to continue working on AI models, critics say the firm has already benefited a lot from its non-profit status and should not be able to use its pre-transition technology for private gains.

So far, OpenAI’s for-profit dreams are hobbled by Elon Musk and Meta. Meanwhile, this week, a non-profit organization called Encode also opposed the transition, arguing that OpenAI’s for-profit restructuring could undermine its commitment to developing and deploying safe AI technology.

The organization representing itself as a so-called youth-led organization advocating for responsible AI development has now released a statement from Geoffrey Hinton, aka the godfather of AI, showing his opposition to OpenAI for-profit transition. The 2024 Physics Nobel winner added:

“OpenAI was founded as an explicitly safety-focused non-profit and made a variety of safety related promises in its charter. It received numerous tax and other benefits from its non-profit status. Allowing it to tear all of that up when it becomes inconvenient sends a very bad message to other actors in the ecosystem.”

The godfather of AI has already raised concerns about rapid and unsupervised AI development, predicting that there is a “10% to 20%” chance that AI could lead to human extinction within the next three decades. He also warned that AI could take away millions of jobs. Thus, the government should prepare a universal basic income plan (via BBC).

Elon Musk, a former co-founder of the AI firm, first initiated the motion against OpenAI’s for-profit transition. Meanwhile, OpenAI later released some emails and internal conversations showing Musk has encouraged the for-profit restructuring, provided that he should hold majority equity and full control. Meta also later sided with Musk and asked the California Attorney General to block the deal.

Despite these, OpenAI has confirmed plans to move away from the non-profit model by potentially transforming into a Delaware Public Benefit Corporation (PBC).

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