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California-sponsored nonprofit Encode unhappy SB 1047 Elon Musk asked for permission to file an amicus brief in support of AI security legislation command Stopping OpenAI’s for-profit transition.
a proposed short In a filing Friday afternoon in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, Encode’s attorney said that turning OpenAI into a for-profit organization would “defraud” the firm’s mission to “develop and deploy transformative technology in a safe and beneficial way.” to the public”.
“OpenAI and its CEO, Sam Altman, claim to be developing technology that is transforming society, and those claims should be taken seriously,” the brief said. “If the world is really on the threshold of a new century artificial general intelligence (AGI)then the public has a strong interest in having this technology managed by a public charity legally bound to prioritize safety and public benefit rather than an organization focused on generating financial returns for a few privileged investors.
OpenAI was founded in 2015 as a non-profit research laboratory. But as his experiments became increasingly capital intensive, he was created Existing structure by taking outside investment from VCs and companies including Microsoft.
Today, OpenAI has a for-profit entity run by a non-profit organization with a “limited profit” share for investors and employees. But a blog post This morning, the company said it plans to convert its existing earnings target to Delaware Public Benefit Corporation (PBC), its common stock and common stock. The OpenAI mission as public interest.
OpenAI will remain a non-profit organization, but will relinquish control in exchange for shares in PBC.
Musk filed for a preliminary injunction in late November to halt the company’s long-in-the-works commercial transition. He accused OpenAI of abandoning its original philanthropic mission to make the fruits of its AI research publicly available and of depriving its rivals, including AI startup xAI, of capital through anti-competitive means.
There is OpenAI he called Musk’s complaints are “baseless” and just a matter of sour grapes.
Facebook’s parent company and AI rival Meta also supports efforts to prevent OpenAI’s transformation. Meta in December sent In a letter sent to California Attorney General Rob Bonta, he argued that allowing the change would have “seismic implications for Silicon Valley.”
Encode’s lawyers said OpenAI’s plans to hand over control of its operations to the PBC would “balance” any public benefit consideration with financial gain, “an organization bound by law to ensure the safety of advanced AI.” will turn it into an organization. interests of (its) shareholders.’”
For example, OpenAI’s nonprofit has pledged to stop competing with any “value-aligned, security-focused projects” that come close to building AGI before it, but OpenAI’s commercial drive to do so is more difficult, the Encode consultant notes in the brief. little incentive. The brief also notes that nonprofit OpenAI’s board will no longer be able to liquidate investors’ capital if necessary for safety once the company’s restructuring is complete.
“OpenAI’s declared fiduciary duty to the public will evaporate because Delaware law is clear that PBC directors have no duty to the public,” Encode’s brief continued. “For a security-focused, mission-constrained nonprofit to relinquish control over something so transformative would harm the public interest to a for-profit entity with no binding commitment to security.”
Founded in July 2020 by high school student Sneha Revanur, Encode describes itself as a network of volunteers focused on ensuring the voices of younger generations are heard in conversations about the implications of artificial intelligence. In addition to SB 1047, Encode has contributed to various state and federal pieces of AI-related legislation, including legislation from the White House. AI Bill of Rights and President Joe Biden Executive Order on AI.