Hyperdimensional

Thoughts on the OpenAI departures and restructuring

The OpenAI drama this week is twofold: first, several key OpenAI executives—Chief Technology Officer Mira Murati, VP of Post-Training Research Barret Zoph, and Chief Research Officer Bob McGrew. Second, multiple outlets are reporting that OpenAI intends to restructure itself as a for-profit Public Benefit Corporation, with CEO Sam Altman taking an equity stake in the new company (up until now, Altman had not taken any equity in OpenAI).

Every time there is OpenAI-related drama, the safety community cynically seizes the narrative. The decision to re-structure as a Public Benefit Corporation is, we are told, the “mask coming off,” even though the PBC is precisely the same structure that OpenAI rival Anthropic employs. “This is the strongest closing argument I can imagine on the need for [SB 1047],” wrote Zvi Mowshowitz. While Zvi does not directly imply that the departures are related to the restructuring, others do; the general sense I get from scanning X is that surely, these executives left because of internal struggles related to the restructuring.