Science and Tech

Meta asks the US to block the conversion of OpenAI into a for-profit company

Meta asks the US to block the conversion of OpenAI into a for-profit company

However, it is also important to mention that Meta has become one of the most important competitors in the world of generative Artificial Intelligence along with OpenAI and highlights the fact that it is now on the side of Musk, who has requested on multiple occasions that the startup does not become a for-profit organization.

In fact, in his request to the government, Meta said that both Musk and former OpenAI board member Shivon Zilis “are qualified and well positioned to represent the interests of Californians in this matter.” It should be remembered that even Musk has requested a court order to stop the conversion.

OpenAI defends itself against Meta and Musk

For its part, OpenAI published a series of emails and text messages in which it points out that its complaints and demands are misleading, as they are baseless, and it considers them a case of envy.

According to the chronology of messages shared by OpenAI, since 2015 Musk raised the idea of ​​the startup having a for-profit component. In 2017 he suggested a merger with a hardware startup, but also demanded a majority stake of between 50 and 60%.

The firm points out that at that time Musk presented a structure where he would have “unequivocally initial control of the company,” but it was rejected by the OpenAI board, which also declined the merger offer with Tesla.

Musk argued that if this operation was carried out, the startup would have a budget of $1 billion that would “increase exponentially,” but since his offer was not accepted (2018), he finally cut ties and started a campaign against it. .

“We have great respect for Elon’s achievements and are grateful for his early contributions to OpenAI, but he should compete in the marketplace rather than in court,” the company replied. And Musk has also initiated proceedings against OpenAI’s main investor, Microsoft, to prevent the conversion.

What is the goal of an OpenAI restructuring?

Since its establishment in 2015, OpenAI has operated as a non-profit organization, that is, it is a kind of foundation that has worked from the beginning in the search for a general, human-like AI, and for the good of humanity.

However, this structure has not allowed it to obtain money from investors to maintain the development of its products and that is how in 2019 it created a for-profit subsidiary, with the objective of financing the high costs of its large language models (LLM). , for its acronym in English).

From that movement, OpenAI obtained investment from companies such as Microsoft (which injected $10 billion), as well as other external investors while beginning to launch more popular products, such as ChatGPT.

However, this change in structure would represent a step forward in the company’s objectives of obtaining resources, as it would become more attractive to investors, since with this movement the limit they have for their profits would be eliminated.



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