A group of former OpenAI employees has come out in support of Elon Musk’s ongoing lawsuit against the company. In a legal brief filed earlier this week, the group asked a California court to block a proposed restructuring that would reduce the power of OpenAI’s nonprofit board and give more control to private investors.
The twelve individuals, who previously worked in technical and leadership roles at OpenAI, say that the company’s nonprofit framework was not a formality. According to the brief, it was central to OpenAI’s original mission and a key reason why they and many others joined the organization in the first place.
OpenAI was founded in 2015 as a nonprofit research lab focused on developing artificial general intelligence, or AGI, in a way that benefits all of humanity. The goal was to avoid the kind of commercial pressures that could lead to unsafe or exclusive use of AI. Elon Musk, Sam Altman, and several others formed the company with the idea that AGI would be one of the most impactful technologies in history, and should therefore be governed responsibly from the start.
However, in 2019, OpenAI introduced a new structure called “capped profit.” This allowed it to raise outside investment while keeping the nonprofit board in charge of major decisions. Microsoft, one of OpenAI’s biggest partners, has since invested over thirteen billion dollars into the company and received exclusive licenses to its technology. While the model with capped-profit limited the returns investors could receive, many argue whether this arrangement has shifted OpenAI’s focus from research to commercialization.
To take a step further, OpenAI announced in September 2024 that it would transition to a fully for-profit company and remove non-profit control as part of a planned restructuring.
Musk’s lawsuit, which was filed earlier in 2024, claims that OpenAI is no longer operating in line with its founding principles. The former employees supporting the lawsuit also say the planned restructuring would weaken one of the last remaining safeguards on the company’s direction. They fear that removing nonprofit oversight could lead to decisions that serve investor interests rather than long-term public safety.
In response, OpenAI has stated that its structure still aligns with its mission, and that additional funding is necessary to continue developing safe and capable AI. The company has not commented publicly on the former employees' filing. A jury trial is scheduled for early next year.
Source: Reuters
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