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Why OpenAI’s nonprofit mission to build AGI is under fire — again | The AI Beat

Much of the legal firestorm around Elon Musk's lawsuit against OpenAI can be traced back to OpenAI's unusual nonprofit structure.

As I wrote in November, according to OpenAI, the members of its nonprofit board of directors will determine when the company has “ attained AGI ” — which it defines as “a highly autonomous system that outperforms humans at most economically valuable work.” Thanks to the for-profit arm that is “legally bound to pursue the Nonprofit’s mission,” once the board decides AGI, or artificial general intelligence, has been reached, such a system will be “excluded from IP licenses and other commercial terms with Microsoft, which only apply to pre-AGI technology.” The new Board members lack substantial AI expertise and, on information and belief, are ill equipped by design to make an independent determination of whether and when OpenAI has attained AGI—and hence when it has developed an algorithm that is outside the scope of Microsoft’s license.” This signaled deepening ties between the two companies that also eventually got the attention of the DOJ and FTC, as well as the influential role of CVC [corporate venture capital] in funding and governing the research and development of OpenAI.”

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