View source for OpenAI

{{Distinguish|OpenAL|OpenAPI (disambiguation){{!}}OpenAPI|Open-source artificial intelligence}}
{{Use American English|date=May 2023}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2024}}
{{Infobox company
| name            = OpenAI
| logo            = [[File:OpenAI logo 2025 (wordmark).svg|frameless|upright=1.1|class=skin-invert]]
| image           = 
| image_caption   = 
| type            = [[Privately held company|Private]]
| industry        = [[Artificial intelligence]]
| founded         = {{Start date and age|p=y|2015|12|08}}<ref name="OpenCorporates">[https://opencorporates.com/companies/us_de/5902936 "OpenAI, Inc."]. ''[[OpenCorporates]]''. December 8, 2015.</ref>
| founders        = {{ubl|[[Sam Altman]]|[[Elon Musk]]|[[Ilya Sutskever]]|[[Greg Brockman]]|[[Trevor Blackwell]]|Vicki Cheung|[[Andrej Karpathy]]|Durk Kingma|[[John Schulman]]|Pamela Vagata|[[Wojciech Zaremba]]}}
| hq_location     = 1455 [[Third Street (San Francisco)|3rd Street]], [[San Francisco]], [[California]], U.S.<ref>Waxmann, Laura. [https://www.sfchronicle.com/realestate/article/openai-s-f-uber-lease-18451102.php "OpenAI closes big lease deal at Uber's San Francisco headquarters"]. ''San Francisco Chronicle''. October 27, 2023.</ref>
| key_people      = {{Unbulleted list
| [[Bret Taylor]] ([[chairman]])
| Sam Altman ([[Chief executive officer|CEO]])
| Greg Brockman ([[President (corporate title)|president]])
| [[Sarah Friar]] ([[Chief financial officer|CFO]])<ref name="NYT5">Metz, Cade. [https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/03/technology/openai-chatgpt-revenue.html "OpenAI, Still Haunted by Its Chaotic Past, Is Trying to Grow Up"]. ''[[New York Times]]''. September 3, 2024.</ref>
| [[Fidji Simo]] (CEO of Applications)
}}
| products        = {{flatlist|
* [[ChatGPT]]
* [[GPT-5.4]]
}}
{{Unbulleted list
| [[OpenAI Codex (AI agent)|OpenAI Codex]]
| [[GPT Image]]
| [[ChatGPT Deep Research|Deep Research]]
| [[ChatGPT agent]]
| [[ChatGPT Atlas]]
| [[ChatGPT Health]]
}}
| services        = 
| revenue         = {{increase}} {{US$|13.1|link=yes}}&nbsp;billion<ref>Capoot, Ashley. [https://www.cnbc.com/2026/02/20/openai-resets-spend-expectations-targets-around-600-billion-by-2030.html "OpenAI resets spending expectations, tells investors compute target is around $600 billion by 2030"]. [[CNBC]]. February 20, 2026.</ref>
| revenue_year    = 2025
| net_income      = {{decrease}} US${{color|red|−9}}&nbsp;billion<ref>Smith, Dave. [https://fortune.com/2025/11/12/openai-cash-burn-rate-annual-losses-2028-profitable-2030-financial-documents/ "OpenAI says it plans to report stunning annual losses through 2028—and then turn wildly profitable just two years later"]. ''[[Fortune (magazine)''. November 12, 2025.</ref>
| net_income_year = {{nowrap|2025 {{abbr|est.|estimate}}}}
| suppressfields  = assets <!-- suppress stale and uncited asset value fetched from Wikidata -->
| equity          = 
| equity_year     = 
| num_employees   = 4,500 (2026)<ref>George, Hammond. [https://www.ft.com/content/7ffea5b4-e8bc-47cd-adb4-257f84c8028b "OpenAI to double workforce as business push intensifies"]. ''[[Financial Times]]''. 2026-03-21.</ref>
| owner           = {{unbulleted list |Employees and investors (47%) |[[Microsoft]] (27%) |OpenAI Foundation (26%)<ref name="nyt-restructure" />}}
| homepage        = {{URL|https://openai.com/}}
}}
{{Artificial intelligence}}

'''OpenAI''' is an American [[artificial intelligence]] (AI) research organization comprising both a [[nonprofit]] foundation and a controlled for-profit public [[benefit corporation]] (PBC), headquartered in [[San Francisco]]. It aims to develop "safe and beneficial" [[artificial general intelligence]] (AGI), which it defines as "highly autonomous systems that outperform humans at most economically valuable work".<ref name="OpenAI-2018">[https://openai.com/charter "OpenAI Charter"]. ''OpenAI''. April 9, 2018.</ref>

OpenAI is widely recognized for its development of the [[Generative pre-trained transformer|GPT]] family of [[large language model]]s, the [[DALL-E]] series of [[text-to-image model]]s, and the [[Sora (text-to-video model)|Sora]] series of [[text-to-video model]]s, which have influenced industry research and commercial applications.<ref>[https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/artificial-the-openai-story-21587cbd "Artificial: The OpenAI Story"]. ''[[WSJ]]''. December 10, 2023.</ref><ref>[https://platform.openai.com/docs/models/overview "Models - OpenAI API"]. ''OpenAI''.</ref><ref>Jindal, Siddharth. [https://analyticsindiamag.com/openai-steals-the-spotlight-with-sora-%E2%9C%A8/ "OpenAI Steals the Spotlight with Sora"]. ''Analytics India Magazine''. February 16, 2024.</ref> Its release of [[ChatGPT]] in November 2022 has been credited with catalyzing widespread interest in [[Generative artificial intelligence|generative AI]].

OpenAI was founded in 2015 in [[Delaware General Corporation Law|Delaware]] as a nonprofit. A for-profit subsidiary was created in 2019, and restructured in 2025 to operate more independently from the nonprofit. [[Microsoft]] previously invested over $13 billion into OpenAI,<ref name="Reuters_2025">[https://www.reuters.com/business/openai-negotiates-with-microsoft-unlock-new-funding-future-ipo-ft-reports-2025-05-11/ "OpenAI negotiates with Microsoft for new funding and future IPO, FT reports"]. ''Reuters''. 2025-05-12.</ref> and provides [[Microsoft Azure|Azure]] cloud computing resources.<ref>, . [https://www.business-standard.com/world-news/microsoft-s-13-billion-investment-into-openai-faces-extra-eu-scrutiny-124062801346_1.html "Microsoft's $13 billion investment into OpenAI faces extra EU scrutiny"]. ''Business Standard''. 2024-06-28.</ref> In October 2025, OpenAI conducted a $6.6 billion share sale that valued the company at $500 billion.<ref>Sigalos, MacKenzie. [https://www.cnbc.com/2025/10/02/openai-share-sale-500-billion-valuation.html "OpenAI wraps $6.6 billion share sale at $500 billion valuation"]. ''CNBC''. 2025-10-02.</ref>

In 2023 and 2024, OpenAI faced multiple lawsuits for alleged [[copyright infringement]] against authors and media companies whose work was used to train some of OpenAI's products. In November 2023, OpenAI's board [[Removal of Sam Altman from OpenAI|removed Sam Altman]] as CEO, citing a lack of confidence in him, but reinstated him five days later following a reconstruction of the board. Throughout 2024, roughly half of then-employed [[AI safety]] researchers left OpenAI, citing the company's prominent role in an industry-wide problem.<ref>Goldman, Sharon. [https://fortune.com/2024/08/26/openai-agi-safety-researchers-exodus/ "Exodus at OpenAI: Nearly half of AGI safety staffers have left, says former researcher"]. ''Fortune''. August 26, 2024.</ref><ref>Meyer, David. [https://fortune.com/2024/10/24/openai-miles-brundage-suchir-balaji-ai-safety-copyright-sam-altman-chatgpt/ "OpenAI's reputational double whammy"]. ''Fortune''. October 24, 2024.</ref>

{{Toclimit}}

== Founding ==
[[File:Pioneer Building, San Francisco (2019) -1.jpg|thumb|Former headquarters at the [[Pioneer Building (San Francisco)|Pioneer Building]] in San Francisco]]
In December 2015, OpenAI was founded as a [[Nonprofit organization|not for profit organization]] by [[Sam Altman]], [[Elon Musk]], [[Ilya Sutskever]], [[Greg Brockman]], [[Trevor Blackwell]], Vicki Cheung, [[Andrej Karpathy]], Durk Kingma, [[John Schulman]], Pamela Vagata, and [[Wojciech Zaremba]], with Sam Altman and Elon Musk as the co-chairs.<ref name="wired_inside" /><ref>[https://observer.com/2024/07/openai-founders-career/ "Only 4 of OpenAI's 11 Founders Are Still With the Company—Where Are the Rest of Them?"]. ''Observer''. 2024-07-12.</ref> A total of $1 billion in capital was pledged by Sam Altman, Greg Brockman, Elon Musk, [[Reid Hoffman]], [[Jessica Livingston]], [[Peter Thiel]], [[Amazon Web Services]] (AWS), and [[Infosys]].<ref>[https://openai.com/blog/introducing-openai/ "Introducing OpenAI"]. ''OpenAI''. December 12, 2015.</ref><ref>[https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2015/12/sam-altman-elon-musk-openai "Sam Altman on His Plan to Keep A.I. Out of the Hands of the "Bad Guys""]. ''Vanity Fair''. 2015.</ref> However, the actual capital collected significantly lagged pledges. According to company disclosures, only $130 million had been received by 2019.<ref name="St">[https://openai.com/our-structure "Our structure"]. ''OpenAI''. October 28, 2025.</ref>

In its founding charter, OpenAI stated an intention to collaborate openly with other institutions by making certain patents and research publicly available, but later restricted access to its most capable models, citing competitive and safety concerns.<ref>[https://blog.openai.com/introducing-openai/ "Introducing OpenAI"]. ''OpenAI Blog''. December 12, 2015.</ref><ref name="bbc-giants">[https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-35082344 "Tech giants pledge $1bn for 'altruistic AI' venture, OpenAI"]. ''[[BBC News]]''. December 12, 2015.</ref><ref name="wired_inside" /> OpenAI was initially run from Brockman's living room.<ref>Seetharaman, Deepa. [https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/open-ai-division-for-profit-da26c24b "Turning OpenAI Into a Real Business Is Tearing It Apart"]. ''[[The Wall Street Journal]]''. September 27, 2024.</ref> It was later headquartered at the [[Pioneer Building (San Francisco)|Pioneer Building]] in the [[Mission District, San Francisco]].<ref>Conger, Kate. [https://gizmodo.com/elon-musks-neuralink-sought-to-open-an-animal-testing-f-1823167674 "Elon Musk's Neuralink Sought to Open an Animal Testing Facility in San Francisco"]. ''Gizmodo''.</ref><ref name="technologyreview">Hao, Karen. [https://www.technologyreview.com/s/615181/ai-openai-moonshot-elon-musk-sam-altman-greg-brockman-messy-secretive-reality/ "The messy, secretive reality behind OpenAI's bid to save the world"]. ''MIT Technology Review''. February 17, 2020.</ref>

According to OpenAI's charter, its founding mission is "to ensure that artificial general intelligence (AGI)—by which we mean highly autonomous systems that outperform humans at most economically valuable work—benefits all of humanity."<ref name="OpenAI-2018" />

Musk and Altman stated in 2015 that they were partly motivated by concerns about [[AI safety]] and [[existential risk from artificial general intelligence]].<ref name="csmonitor">Lewontin, Max. [https://www.csmonitor.com/Technology/2015/1214/Open-AI-Effort-to-democratize-artificial-intelligence-research "Open AI: Effort to democratize artificial intelligence research?"]. ''[[The Christian Science Monitor]]''. December 14, 2015.</ref><ref name="wired_inside">[https://www.wired.com/2016/04/openai-elon-musk-sam-altman-plan-to-set-artificial-intelligence-free/ "Inside OpenAI, Elon Musk's Wild Plan to Set Artificial Intelligence Free"]. ''[[Wired (magazine)''. April 27, 2016.</ref> OpenAI stated that "it's hard to fathom how much human-level AI could benefit society", and that it is equally difficult to comprehend "how much it could damage society if built or used incorrectly".<ref name="bbc-giants" /> The startup also wrote that AI "should be an extension of individual human wills and, in the spirit of liberty, as broadly and evenly distributed as possible",<ref name="bbc-giants" /> and that "because of AI's surprising history, it's hard to predict when human-level AI might come within reach. When it does, it'll be important to have a leading research institution which can prioritize a good outcome for all over its own self-interest."<ref>Mendoza, Jessica. [https://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2015/1214/Tech-leaders-launch-nonprofit-to-save-the-world-from-killer-robots "Tech leaders launch nonprofit to save the world from killer robots"]. ''[[The Christian Science Monitor]]''.</ref> Co-chair Sam Altman expected a decades-long project that eventually surpasses human intelligence.<ref name="wired_far_more">Metz, Cade. [https://www.wired.com/2015/12/elon-musks-billion-dollar-ai-plan-is-about-far-more-than-saving-the-world/ "Elon Musk's Billion-Dollar AI Plan Is About Far More Than Saving the World"]. ''[[Wired (magazine)''. December 15, 2015.</ref>

Brockman met with [[Yoshua Bengio]], one of the "founding fathers" of [[deep learning]], and drew up a list of great AI researchers.<ref name="wired_inside" /> Brockman was able to hire nine of them as the first employees in December 2015.<ref name="wired_inside" /> OpenAI did not pay AI researchers salaries comparable to those of [[Facebook]] or [[Google]].<ref name="wired_inside" /> It also did not pay stock options which AI researchers typically get. Nevertheless, OpenAI spent $7 million on its first 52 employees in 2016.<ref name="salaryTimes">Metz, Cade. [https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/19/technology/artificial-intelligence-salaries-openai.html "A.I. Researchers Are Making More Than $1 Million, Even at a Nonprofit"]. ''The New York Times''. April 19, 2018.</ref> OpenAI's potential and mission drew these researchers to the firm; a Google employee said he was willing to leave Google for OpenAI "partly because of the very strong group of people and, to a very large extent, because of its mission."<ref name="wired_inside" /> OpenAI co-founder [[Wojciech Zaremba]] stated that he turned down "borderline crazy" offers of two to three times his market value to join OpenAI instead.<ref name="wired_inside" />

In April 2016, OpenAI released a public beta of "OpenAI Gym", its platform for [[reinforcement learning]] research.<ref name="Dave Gershgorn-2016">[http://www.popsci.com/elon-musks-artificial-intelligence-group-opens-gym-to-train-ai "Elon Musk's Artificial Intelligence Group Opens A 'Gym' To Train A.I."]. ''Popular Science''. April 27, 2016.</ref> [[Nvidia]] gifted its first [[Nvidia DGX|DGX-1 supercomputer]] to OpenAI in August 2016 to help it train larger and more complex AI models with the capability of reducing processing time from six days to two hours.<ref>Carr, Austin. [https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2023-06-15/nvidia-s-ai-chips-power-chatgpt-and-multibillion-dollar-surge "How Nvidia Became ChatGPT's Brain and Joined the $1 Trillion Club"]. Bloomberg News. June 15, 2023.</ref><ref>Vanian, Jonathan. [https://fortune.com/2016/08/15/elon-musk-artificial-intelligence-openai-nvidia-supercomputer/ "Elon Musk's Artificial Intelligence Project Just Got a Free Supercomputer"]. ''Fortune''. August 15, 2016.</ref> In December 2016, OpenAI released "Universe", a software platform for measuring and training an AI's general intelligence across the world's supply of games, websites, and other applications<!--AI training ground that spans any software running on any machine, from games to web browsers to protein folders-->.<ref>Metz, Cade. [https://www.wired.com/2016/12/openais-universe-computers-learn-use-apps-like-humans/ "Elon Musk's Lab Wants to Teach Computers to Use Apps Just Like Humans Do"]. ''WIRED''.</ref><ref>Mannes, John. [https://techcrunch.com/2016/12/05/openais-universe-is-the-fun-parent-every-artificial-intelligence-deserves/ "OpenAI's Universe is the fun parent every artificial intelligence deserves"]. ''TechCrunch''.</ref><ref>[https://universe.openai.com/ "OpenAI – Universe"].</ref><ref>Claburn, Thomas. [https://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/12/05/openai_universe_reinforcement_learning/ "Elon Musk-backed OpenAI reveals Universe – a universal training ground for computers"]. ''The Register''.</ref>

== Corporate structure ==
[[File:OpenAI corporate structure.svg|thumb|upright=1.5|OpenAI's corporate structure]]

=== Transition from non-profit ===
In 2019, OpenAI transitioned from non-profit to "capped" for-profit, with the profit being capped at 100 times any investment.<ref>[https://techcrunch.com/2019/03/11/openai-shifts-from-nonprofit-to-capped-profit-to-attract-capital/ "OpenAI shifts from nonprofit to 'capped-profit' to attract capital"]. March 11, 2019.</ref> According to OpenAI, the capped-profit model allows OpenAI Global, LLC to legally attract investment from venture funds and, in addition, to grant employees stakes in the company.<ref name="wired investors">[https://www.wired.com/story/compete-google-openai-seeks-investorsand-profits/ "To Compete With Google, OpenAI Seeks Investors–and Profits"]. ''Wired''. December 3, 2019.</ref> Many top researchers work for [[Google Brain]], [[DeepMind]], or [[Facebook]], which offer [[Compensation and benefits#Equity-based compensation|equity]] that a nonprofit would be unable to match.<ref name="bloomberg arm">Kahn, Jeremy. [https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-03-11/ai-research-group-co-founded-by-musk-starts-for-profit-arm "AI Research Group Co-Founded by Elon Musk Starts For-Profit Arm"]. ''[[Bloomberg News]]''. March 11, 2019.</ref> Before the transition, OpenAI was legally required to publicly disclose the compensation of its top employees.<ref name="salaryTimes" />

The company then distributed [[Equity (finance)|equity]] to its employees and partnered with Microsoft,<ref name="2019investment">[https://openai.com/blog/microsoft-invests-in-and-partners-with-openai "Microsoft invests in and partners with OpenAI"]. July 22, 2019.</ref> announcing an investment package of $1 billion into the company. Since then, OpenAI systems have run on an [[Microsoft Azure|Azure]]-based [[supercomputer|supercomputing]] platform from Microsoft.<ref name="Langston 2023">Citation needed.</ref><ref name="Foley 2020">Citation needed.</ref><ref name="Engadget 2020">Citation needed.</ref>

OpenAI Global, LLC then announced its intention to commercially license its technologies.<ref>[https://openai.com/blog/microsoft/ "Microsoft Invests in and Partners with OpenAI to Support Us Building Beneficial AGI"]. ''OpenAI''. July 22, 2019.</ref> It planned to spend $1 billion "within five years, and possibly much faster".<ref>Murgia, Madhumita. [https://www.ft.com/content/d4280856-b92d-11e9-8a88-aa6628ac896c "DeepMind runs up higher losses and debts in race for AI"]. ''[[Financial Times]]''. August 7, 2019.</ref> Altman stated that even a billion dollars may turn out to be insufficient, and that the lab may ultimately need "more capital than any non-profit has ever raised" to achieve artificial general intelligence.<ref>[https://fortune.com/2019/10/03/openai-will-need-more-capital-than-any-non-profit-has-ever-raised/ "OpenAI Will Need More Capital Than Any Non-Profit Has Ever Raised"]. ''Fortune''.</ref>

The nonprofit, OpenAI, Inc., is the sole [[controlling interest|controlling shareholder]] of OpenAI Global, LLC, which, despite being a for-profit company, retains a formal [[fiduciary duty|fiduciary responsibility]] to OpenAI, Inc.'s nonprofit charter. A majority of OpenAI, Inc.'s board is barred from having financial stakes in OpenAI Global, LLC.<ref name="wired investors" /> In addition, minority members with a stake in OpenAI Global, LLC are barred from certain votes due to conflict of interest.<ref name="bloomberg arm" /> Some researchers have argued that OpenAI Global, LLC's switch to for-profit status is inconsistent with OpenAI's claims to be "democratizing" AI.<ref>Vincent, James. [https://www.theverge.com/2019/7/22/20703578/microsoft-openai-investment-partnership-1-billion-azure-artificial-general-intelligence-agi "Microsoft invests $1 billion in OpenAI to pursue holy grail of artificial intelligence"]. ''[[The Verge]]''. July 22, 2019.</ref>

On February 29, 2024, [[Elon Musk]] filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman, accusing them of shifting focus from public benefit to profit maximization—a case OpenAI dismissed as "incoherent" and "frivolous", though Musk later revived legal action against Altman and others in August.<ref>Satariano, Adam. [https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/01/technology/elon-musk-openai-sam-altman-lawsuit.html "Elon Musk Sues OpenAI and Sam Altman for Violating the Company's Principles"]. ''The New York Times''. March 1, 2024.</ref><ref>Lopatto, Elizabeth. [https://www.theverge.com/2024/3/5/24091773/openai-response-elon-musk-breach-of-contract-lawsuit "OpenAI says Elon Musk wanted 'absolute control' of the company"]. ''The Verge''. March 6, 2024.</ref><ref>Kharpal, Arjun. [https://www.cnbc.com/2024/08/05/elon-musk-revives-lawsuit-against-openai-sam-altman-in-federal-court.html "Elon Musk revives lawsuit against OpenAI, Sam Altman in federal court"]. CNBC. August 5, 2024.</ref><ref>De Avila, Joseph. [https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/elon-musk-revives-lawsuit-against-openai-and-sam-altman-d7e5a87c "Elon Musk Revives Lawsuit Against OpenAI and Sam Altman"]. ''The Wall Street Journal''. August 5, 2024.</ref>

On April 9, 2024, OpenAI countersued Musk in federal court, alleging that he had engaged in "bad-faith tactics" to slow the company's progress and seize its innovations for his personal benefit. OpenAI also argued that Musk had previously supported the creation of a for-profit structure and had expressed interest in controlling OpenAI himself. The countersuit seeks damages and legal measures to prevent further alleged interference.<ref>Habeshian, Sareen. [https://www.axios.com/2025/04/10/openai-elon-musk-countersuit "OpenAI countersues Elon Musk in bitter legal battle"]. ''Axios''. April 10, 2025.</ref>

On February 10, 2025, a consortium of investors led by Elon Musk submitted a $97.4 billion unsolicited bid to buy the nonprofit that controls OpenAI, declaring willingness to match or exceed any better offer.<ref>Hammond, George. [https://www.ft.com/content/3a673ed2-26d5-47af-9028-8af7d742c2e7 "Elon Musk-led consortium offers $100bn to take control of OpenAI"]. ''Financial Times''. 10 February 2025.</ref><ref name="Toonkel-2025">Toonkel, Jessica. [https://www.wsj.com/tech/elon-musk-openai-bid-4af12827 "Elon Musk-Led Group Makes $97.4 Billion Bid for Control of OpenAI"]. ''The Wall Street Journal''. February 10, 2025.</ref> The offer was rejected on 14 February 2025, with OpenAI stating that it was not for sale,<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/feb/14/openai-elon-musk "OpenAI rejects $97.4bn Musk bid and says company is not for sale"]. ''The Guardian''. 14 February 2025.</ref> but the offer complicated Altman's restructuring plan by suggesting a lower bar for how much the nonprofit should be valued.<ref name="Toonkel-2025" />

OpenAI, Inc. was originally designed as a nonprofit in order to ensure that AGI "benefits all of humanity" rather than "the private gain of any person". In 2019, it created OpenAI Global, LLC, a capped-profit subsidiary controlled by the nonprofit. In December 2024, OpenAI proposed a restructuring plan to convert the capped-profit into a Delaware-based public benefit corporation (PBC), and to release it from the control of the nonprofit. The nonprofit would sell its control and other assets, getting equity in return, and would use it to fund and pursue separate charitable projects, including in science and education. OpenAI's leadership described the change as necessary to secure additional investments, and claimed that the nonprofit's founding mission to ensure AGI "benefits all of humanity" would be better fulfilled.<ref>Booth, Harry. [https://time.com/7279977/openai-for-profit-letter-elon-musk/ "OpenAI Wants to Go For-Profit. Experts Say Regulators Should Step In"]. ''TIME''. 2025-04-24.</ref>

The plan has been criticized by former employees. A legal letter named "Not For Private Gain" asked the [[Attorney General of California|attorneys general of California]] and [[Attorney General of Delaware|Delaware]] to intervene, stating that the restructuring is illegal and would remove governance safeguards from the nonprofit and the attorneys general.<ref>Tong, Anna. [https://www.reuters.com/business/group-that-opposed-openais-restructuring-raises-concerns-about-new-revamp-plan-2025-05-15/ "Group that opposed OpenAI's restructuring raises concerns about new revamp plan"]. ''Reuters''. May 15, 2025.</ref><ref>Goldman, Sharon. [https://fortune.com/article/ex-openai-employees-california-ag-for-profit-pivot-threat-nonprofit-mission/ "Ex-OpenAI employees sign open letter to California AG: For-profit pivot poses 'palpable threat' to nonprofit mission"]. ''Fortune''.</ref> The letter argues that OpenAI's complex structure was deliberately designed to remain accountable to its mission, without the conflicting pressure of maximizing profits. It contends that the nonprofit is best positioned to advance its mission of ensuring AGI benefits all of humanity by continuing to control OpenAI Global, LLC, whatever the amount of equity that it could get in exchange.<ref name="Piper-2025">Piper, Kelsey. [https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/410261/openai-non-profit-transition-letter-sam-altman-artificial-intelligence "OpenAI's nonprofit structure was supposed to protect you. What went wrong?"]. ''Vox''. 2025-04-24.</ref> PBCs can choose how they balance their mission with profit-making. Controlling shareholders have a large influence on how closely a PBC sticks to its mission.<ref name="Reuters-2025">[https://www.reuters.com/technology/artificial-intelligence/openai-lays-out-plan-shift-new-for-profit-structure-2024-12-27/ "OpenAI outlines new for-profit structure in bid to stay ahead in costly AI race"]. ''Reuters''. January 2, 2025.</ref><ref name="Piper-2025" />

==== 2025 restructuring ====
On October 28, 2025, OpenAI announced that it had adopted the new PBC corporate structure after receiving approval from the attorneys general of California and Delaware.<ref name="nyt-restructure">Metz, Cade. [https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/28/technology/openai-restructure-for-profit-company.html "OpenAI Restructures to Become a More Traditional For-Profit Company"]. ''New York Times''. October 28, 2025.</ref> Under the new structure, OpenAI's for-profit branch became a public benefit corporation known as OpenAI Group PBC, while the non-profit was renamed to the OpenAI Foundation.<ref name="nyt-restructure" /><ref name="reuters-restructure">[https://www.reuters.com/business/microsoft-openai-reach-new-deal-allow-openai-restructure-2025-10-28/ "Microsoft, OpenAI reach deal removing fundraising constraints for ChatGPT maker"]. ''Reuters''.</ref> The OpenAI Foundation holds a 26% stake in the PBC, while Microsoft holds a 27% stake and the remaining 47% is owned by employees and other investors.<ref name="nyt-restructure" /><ref name="cnbc-restructure" />

All members of the OpenAI Group PBC board of directors will be appointed by the OpenAI Foundation, which can remove them at any time.<ref name="nyt-restructure" /> Members of the Foundation's board will also serve on the for-profit board.<ref name="nyt-restructure" /> The new structure allows the for-profit PBC to raise investor funds like most traditional tech companies, including through an [[initial public offering]], which Altman claimed was the most likely path forward.<ref name="reuters-restructure" />

=== Partnership with Microsoft ===
In January 2023, OpenAI Global, LLC was in talks for funding that would value the company at $29 billion, double its 2021 value.<ref>Kruppa, Berber Jin and Miles. [https://www.wsj.com/articles/chatgpt-creator-openai-is-in-talks-for-tender-offer-that-would-value-it-at-29-billion-11672949279 "WSJ News Exclusive {{!"]. ''Wall Street Journal''. January 5, 2023.</ref> On January 23, 2023, Microsoft announced a new US$10 billion investment in OpenAI Global, LLC over multiple years, partially needed to use Microsoft's cloud-computing service ''Azure''.<ref>[https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-01-23/microsoft-makes-multibillion-dollar-investment-in-openai "Microsoft Adds $10 Billion to Investment in ChatGPT Maker OpenAI"]. ''Bloomberg.com''. January 23, 2023.</ref><ref>Capoot, Ashley. [https://www.cnbc.com/2023/01/23/microsoft-announces-multibillion-dollar-investment-in-chatgpt-maker-openai.html "Microsoft announces multibillion-dollar investment in ChatGPT-maker OpenAI"]. ''CNBC''. January 23, 2023.</ref>

From September to December, 2023, Microsoft rebranded all variants of its Copilot to [[Microsoft Copilot]], and they added MS-Copilot to many installations of Windows and released [[Microsoft Copilot]] mobile apps.<ref name="unify">Edwards, Nathan. [https://www.theverge.com/2023/9/21/23883798/microsoft-copilot-unified-windows-11-apps-launch-date "Microsoft's unified Copilot is coming to Windows, Edge, and everywhere else"]. ''The Verge''. September 21, 2023.</ref><ref name="androidlaunch">Warren, Tom. [https://www.theverge.com/2023/12/26/24015198/microsoft-copilot-mobile-app-android-launch "Microsoft Copilot is now available as a ChatGPT-like app on Android"]. ''The Verge''. December 26, 2023.</ref><ref name="ioslaunch">[https://www.theverge.com/2023/12/29/24019288/microsoft-copilot-app-available-iphone-ipad-ai "Microsoft's Copilot app is now available on iOS"]. ''The Verge''. December 29, 2023.</ref>

Following OpenAI's 2025 restructuring, Microsoft owns a 27% stake in the for-profit OpenAI Group PBC, valued at $135 billion.<ref name="cnbc-restructure">Capoot, Ashley. [https://www.cnbc.com/2025/10/28/open-ai-for-profit-microsoft.html "OpenAI completes restructure, solidifying Microsoft as a major shareholder"]. ''CNBC''. 2025-10-28.</ref> In a deal announced the same day, OpenAI agreed to purchase $250 billion of Azure services, with Microsoft ceding their [[right of first refusal]] over OpenAI's future cloud computing purchases.<ref name="cnbc-restructure" /><ref name="verge-restructure">Field, Hayden. [https://www.theverge.com/news/807875/openai-microsoft-for-profit-agi "OpenAI completed its for-profit restructuring — and struck a new deal with Microsoft"]. ''The Verge''. 2025-10-28.</ref> As part of the deal, OpenAI will continue to share 20% of its revenue with Microsoft until it achieves AGI, which must now be verified by an independent panel of experts.<ref name="reuters-restructure" /><ref name="verge-restructure" /> The deal also loosened restrictions on both companies working with third parties, allowing Microsoft to pursue AGI independently and allowing OpenAI to develop products with other companies.<ref name="cnbc-restructure" /><ref name="nyt-restructure" /><ref name="verge-restructure" />

=== Finances ===
In 2017, OpenAI spent $7.9&nbsp;million, a quarter of its functional expenses, on cloud computing alone.<ref>[https://www.reuters.com/article/us-microsoft-openai/microsoft-to-invest-1-billion-in-openai-idUSKCN1UH1H9 "Microsoft to invest $1 billion in OpenAI"]. ''Reuters''. July 22, 2019.</ref> In comparison, [[DeepMind]]'s total expenses in 2017 were $442&nbsp;million. In the summer of 2018, training OpenAI's ''Dota 2'' bots required renting 128,000 [[Central processing unit|CPUs]] and 256 [[Graphics processing unit|GPUs]] from Google for multiple weeks.<ref name="wired investors" /> Microsoft's 2019 investment in OpenAI, totaling $1 billion, reportedly kicked off the "contemporary AI boom".<ref>Brandom, Russell. [https://techcrunch.com/2026/02/28/billion-dollar-infrastructure-deals-ai-boom-data-centers-openai-oracle-nvidia-microsoft-google-meta/ "The billion-dollar infrastructure deals powering the AI boom"]. ''TechCrunch''. 2026-02-28.</ref><ref>Metz, Cade. [https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/27/business/openai-funding.html "OpenAI Raises $110 Billion to Fuel Growth, Extending A.I. Boom"]. ''The New York Times''. 2026-02-27.</ref>

In October 2024, OpenAI completed a $6.6 billion capital raise with a $157 billion valuation including investments from Microsoft, Nvidia, and SoftBank.<ref>Hu, Krystal. [https://www.reuters.com/technology/artificial-intelligence/openai-closes-66-billion-funding-haul-valuation-157-billion-with-investment-2024-10-02 "OpenAI closes $6.6 billion funding haul with investment from Microsoft and Nvidia"]. ''Reuters''. 2 October 2024.</ref>

On January 21, 2025, [[Donald Trump]] announced [[Stargate LLC|The Stargate Project]], a joint venture between OpenAI, [[Oracle Corporation|Oracle]], [[SoftBank Group|SoftBank]] and [[MGX (company)|MGX]] to build an AI infrastructure system in conjunction with the [[Federal government of the United States|US government]]. The project takes its name from OpenAI's existing "Stargate" supercomputer project and is estimated to cost $500 billion. The partners planned to fund the project over the next four years.<ref>Jacobs, Jennifer. [https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-announces-private-sector-ai-infrastructure-investment/ "Trump announces up to $500 billion in private sector AI infrastructure investment"]. ''CBS News''. 2025-01-22.</ref> In July, the [[United States Department of Defense]] announced that OpenAI had received a $200 million contract for AI in the military, along with Anthropic, Google, and [[XAI (company)|xAI]].<ref>Brodkin, Jon. [https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/07/groks-mechahitler-meltdown-didnt-stop-xai-from-winning-200m-military-deal/ "Grok's "MechaHitler" meltdown didn't stop xAI from winning $200M military deal"]. ''Ars Technica''. 2025-07-15.</ref> In the same month, the company made a deal with the [[UK Government]] to use ChatGPT and other AI tools in public services.<ref>[https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/czdv68gejm7o "OpenAI and UK sign deal to use AI in public services"]. ''BBC News''. 2025-07-22.</ref><ref>[https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/uk-chatgpt-maker-openai-sign-new-strategic-partnership-2025-07-21/ "UK and ChatGPT maker OpenAI sign new strategic partnership"]. ''Reuters''. 2025-07-21.</ref> OpenAI subsequently began a $50 million fund to support nonprofit and community organizations.<ref>Tong, Anna. [https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/boards-policy-regulation/openai-launches-50-million-fund-support-nonprofits-community-organizations-2025-07-18/ "OpenAI launches $50 million fund to support nonprofits, community organizations"]. ''Reuters''. 2025-07-18.</ref>

In April 2025, OpenAI raised $40 billion at a $300 billion post-money valuation, which was the highest-value private technology deal in history. The financing round was led by SoftBank, with other participants including Microsoft, [[Coatue Management|Coatue]], [[Altimeter Capital|Altimeter]] and [[Thrive Capital|Thrive]].<ref>Rooney, Kate. [https://www.cnbc.com/2025/03/31/openai-closes-40-billion-in-funding-the-largest-private-fundraise-in-history-softbank-chatgpt.html "OpenAI closes $40 billion funding round, largest private tech deal on record"]. ''CNBC''. March 31, 2025.</ref><ref>Wiggers, Kyle. [https://techcrunch.com/2025/03/31/openai-raises-40b-at-300b-post-money-valuation/ "OpenAI raises $40B at $300B post-money valuation"]. ''TechCrunch''. March 31, 2025.</ref>

In July 2025, the company reported annualized revenue of $12 billion.<ref>[https://www.pymnts.com/news/artificial-intelligence/2025/openai-doubles-yearly-revenue-12-billion-dollars/ "OpenAI Doubles Yearly Revenue to $12 Billion"]. PYMNTS. July 30, 2025.</ref><ref>[https://www.reuters.com/business/openai-hits-12-billion-annualized-revenue-information-reports-2025-07-31/ "OpenAI hits $12 billion in annualized revenue, The Information reports"]. Reuters. July 30, 2025.</ref> This was an increase from $3.7 billion in 2024, which was driven by ChatGPT subscriptions, which reached 20 million paid subscribers by April 2025, up from 15.5 million at the end of 2024, alongside a rapidly expanding enterprise customer base that grew to five million business users.<ref>[https://finance.yahoo.com/news/chatgpt-crosses-20m-paid-users-140519166.html "ChatGPT Crosses 20M Paid Users, OpenAI Poised for Record Growth"]. Yahoo Finance. April 2, 2025.</ref><ref>[https://www.cnbc.com/2025/08/04/openai-chatgpt-700-million-users.html "OpenAI's ChatGPT to hit 700 million weekly users, up 4x from last year"]. CNBC. August 4, 2025.</ref><ref>[https://www.saastr.com/openai-crosses-12-billion-arr-the-3-year-sprint-that-redefined-whats-possible-in-scaling-software/ "OpenAI Crosses $12 Billion ARR: The 3-Year Sprint That Redefined What's Possible in Scaling Software"]. SaaStr. August 20, 2025.</ref>

In February 2026, OpenAI raised $110{{nbsp}}billion at a $730{{nbsp}}billion valuation, led by [[Amazon (company)|Amazon]] ($50{{nbsp}}billion), [[SoftBank]] ($30{{nbsp}}billion), and [[Nvidia]] ($30{{nbsp}}billion), surpassing the prior round as the largest private technology fundraise in history.<ref name="openai-110b-2026">Brandom, Russell. [https://techcrunch.com/2026/02/27/openai-raises-110b-in-one-of-the-largest-private-funding-rounds-in-history/ "OpenAI raises $110B in one of the largest private funding rounds in history"]. ''TechCrunch''. 2026-02-27.</ref> The round was later extended to $120{{nbsp}}billion in March 2026.<ref name="openai-120b-2026">Rooney, Kate. [https://www.cnbc.com/2026/03/24/openai-secures-an-extra-10-billion-in-record-funding-round-cfo-friar-says.html "OpenAI secures an extra $10 billion in record funding round"]. ''CNBC''. 2026-03-24.</ref> In April 2026, the company announced that it closed a funding round of $122 billion in committed capital at a post-money valuation of $852 billion.<ref>[https://openai.com/index/accelerating-the-next-phase-ai/ "OpenAI raises $122 billion to accelerate the next phase of AI"]. ''openai.com''. 2026-03-24.</ref>

== Business model ==
OpenAI employs a tiered revenue model that combines free consumer access, paid subscription services, enterprise licensing, and [[application programming interface]] (API) usage-based pricing.<ref name="Friar2026">Friar, Sarah. [https://openai.com/index/a-business-that-scales-with-the-value-of-intelligence/ "A business that scales with the value of intelligence"]. ''OpenAI''.</ref> The model reflects a freemium [[software as a service]] (SaaS) structure in which basic functionality is provided at no cost, while advanced capabilities are offered through paid plans such as ChatGPT Plus and enterprise solutions.
Freemium SaaS models are designed to convert free users into paying customers by emphasizing perceived value, user satisfaction, and feature differentiation.<ref name="Hsu2025">Hsu, P.-F.. "Converting free users to paying customers in freemium services: a SaaS success model". ''Information Systems & E-Business Management''.</ref> Research on SaaS conversion indicates that perceived usefulness and alignment with user needs are central predictors of willingness to subscribe.<ref name="Hsu2025" />
Studies applying the [[technology acceptance model]] (TAM) to ChatGPT usage have found that perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use significantly influence behavioral intention and continued adoption.<ref name="Ma2025">Ma, J.. "Exploring User Adoption of ChatGPT: A Technology Acceptance Model Perspective". ''International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction''.</ref> Workplace adoption research has similarly reported that perceived intelligence and information support increase knowledge acquisition and strengthen intent to use [[generative AI]] systems.<ref name="Jo2024">Jo, H.. "AI in the Workplace: Examining the Effects of ChatGPT on Information Support and Knowledge Acquisition". ''International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction''.</ref>
OpenAI's subscription and enterprise offerings are structured around scalable compute usage and API integration into third-party platforms.<ref name="Friar2026" /> In 2025, the company reported significant revenue growth associated with expanded computing infrastructure and enterprise adoption.<ref name="ReutersRevenue2026">[https://www.reuters.com/business/openai-cfo-says-annualized-revenue-crosses-20-billion-2025-2026-01-19/ "OpenAI CFO says annualized revenue crosses $20 billion in 2025"]. ''Reuters''. January 19, 2026.</ref> The introduction of diversified revenue streams, including subscription tiers, enterprise contracts, API licensing, and advertising experiments in certain segments, reflects a multi-channel monetization approach.<ref name="ReutersCompute2026">[https://www.reuters.com/technology/openai-sees-compute-spend-around-600-billion-by-2030-cnbc-reports-2026-02-20/ "OpenAI expects compute spend of around $600 billion through 2030, source says"]. ''Reuters''. February 20, 2026.</ref>
Financial market research has also documented abnormal stock returns among publicly traded firms referencing ChatGPT in regulatory filings, suggesting that generative AI adoption has been associated with investor expectations of productivity and revenue effects.<ref>Pietrzak, M.. "A trillion dollars race—how ChatGPT affects stock prices". ''Future Business Journal''.</ref>
The sustainability of freemium AI platforms has been linked in academic literature to continued enterprise integration across sectors, including finance, supply chains, and sustainability risk management.<ref>Roozkhosh, P.. "Exploring the adoption and long-term effects of ChatGPT in a sustainable supply chain". ''Flexible Services & Manufacturing Journal''.</ref><ref>Kong, K. Y.. "Sustainability risk management: Exploring the role of artificial intelligence capabilities through an information-processing lens". ''Risk Analysis''.</ref>

The company's [[Burn rate|cash burn]] remains high because of the intensive computational costs required to train and operate large language models. It projects an $8 billion operating loss in 2025.<ref>[https://finance.yahoo.com/news/openai-hits-12-billion-annualized-015009168.html "OpenAI hits $12 billion in annualized revenue, The Information reports"]. Yahoo Finance. July 30, 2025.</ref><ref>Cole, Cyrus. [https://www.ainvest.com/news/openai-cash-burn-strategic-implications-ai-investors-2509/ "The OpenAI Cash Burn: Strategic Implications for AI Investors"]. AI Invest. September 4, 2025.</ref> OpenAI reports revised long-term spending projections totaling approximately $115 billion through 2029,<ref name="yahoo">[https://finance.yahoo.com/news/openai-expects-business-burn-115-022035561.html "Report: OpenAI expects business to burn $115 billion through 2029"]. Yahoo Finance. September 5, 2025.</ref> with annual expenditures projected to escalate significantly, reaching $17 billion in 2026, $35 billion in 2027, and $45 billion in 2028.<ref name="ground_news">[https://the-decoder.com/openai-has-reportedly-misjudged-its-cash-burn-by-80-billion/ "OpenAI has reportedly misjudged its cash burn by $80 billion"]. The Decoder. September 5, 2025.</ref><ref>[https://ground.news/article/openai-faces-115-billion-cash-burn-by-2029 "OpenAI Expects Business to Burn $115 Billion Through 2029, The Information reports"]. Ground News. September 5, 2025.</ref> These expenditures are primarily allocated toward expanding compute infrastructure, developing proprietary AI chips, constructing data centers, and funding intensive model training programs, with more than half of the spending through the end of the decade expected to support research-intensive compute for model training and development.<ref>[https://www.theinformation.com/articles/openai-says-business-will-burn-115-billion-2029 "OpenAI Says Its Business Will Burn $115 Billion Through 2029"]. The Information. September 5, 2025.</ref>

The company's financial strategy prioritizes market expansion and technological advancement over near-term profitability, with OpenAI targeting cash-flow-positive operations by 2029 and projecting revenue of approximately $200 billion by 2030.<ref name="ground_news" /> This aggressive spending trajectory underscores both the enormous capital requirements of scaling cutting-edge AI technology and OpenAI's commitment to maintaining its position as a leader in the artificial intelligence industry.<ref>[https://www.wired.com/story/openai-valuation-500-billion-skepticism/ "OpenAI Is Poised to Become the Most Valuable Startup Ever. Should It Be?"]. Wired. August 19, 2025.</ref>

In October 2025, OpenAI completed an employee share sale of up to $10 billion to existing investors which valued the company at $500 billion. The deal values OpenAI as the most valuable privately owned company in the world—surpassing [[SpaceX]] as the world's most valuable private company.<ref>Kinder, Tabby. [https://www.ft.com/content/f6befd14-6e8e-497d-98c9-6894b4cca7e4 "OpenAI overtakes SpaceX after hitting $500bn valuation"]. ''www.ft.com''. 2025-10-02.</ref>

=== Acquisitions ===
In August 2023, it was announced that OpenAI had acquired the [[New York City|New York]]-based start-up Global Illumination, a company that deploys AI to develop digital infrastructure and creative tools.<ref>[https://www.reuters.com/markets/deals/openai-acquires-start-up-global-illumination-work-core-products-chatgpt-2023-08-16/ "OpenAI acquires start-up Global Illumination to work on core products, ChatGPT"]. ''Reuters''. August 16, 2023.</ref>

In June 2024, OpenAI acquired Multi, a startup focused on remote collaboration.<ref>Wiggers, Kyle. [https://techcrunch.com/2024/06/24/openai-buys-a-remote-collaboration-platform/ "OpenAI buys a remote collaboration platform"]. ''TechCrunch''. June 24, 2024.</ref>

In March 2025, OpenAI reached a deal with [[CoreWeave]] to acquire $350 million worth of CoreWeave shares and access to AI infrastructure, in return for $11.9 billion paid over five years. Microsoft was already CoreWeave's biggest customer in 2024.<ref name="ReuterCore">Wang, Echo. [https://www.reuters.com/technology/artificial-intelligence/coreweave-strikes-12-billion-contract-with-openai-ahead-ipo-sources-say-2025-03-10/ "CoreWeave inks $11.9 billion contract with OpenAI ahead of IP"]. ''Reuters''. March 10, 2025.</ref> Alongside their other business dealings, OpenAI and Microsoft were renegotiating the terms of their partnership to facilitate a potential future [[initial public offering]] by OpenAI, while ensuring Microsoft's continued access to advanced AI models.<ref name="Reuters_2025" /> On May 21, 2025 OpenAI announced the $6.5 billion acquisition of [[Io (company)|io]], an AI hardware start-up founded by former Apple designer [[Jony Ive]] in 2024.<ref>Eadicicco, Lisa. [https://www.cnn.com/2025/05/21/tech/jony-ive-apple-design-chief-openai?iid=cnn_buildContentRecirc_end_recirc "Former Apple design chief Jony Ive is joining OpenAI {{!"]. ''CNN''. 2025-05-21.</ref><ref>Fraser, Graham. [https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5y66yemjdmo "Apple iPhone designer Sir Jony Ive joins ChatGPT-maker OpenAI"]. ''[[BBC News]]''. 2025-05-22.</ref><ref>Isaac, Mike. [https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/21/technology/openai-jony-ive-deal.html?partner=slack&smid=sl-share "OpenAI Unites With Jony Ive in $6.5 Billion Deal to Create A.I. Devices"]. ''The New York Times''. 2025-05-21.</ref>

In September 2025, OpenAI agreed to acquire the product testing startup Statsig for $1.1&nbsp;billion in an all-stock deal and appointed Statsig's founding CEO [[Vijaye Raji]] as OpenAI's chief technology officer of applications.<ref>Metz, Rachel. [https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-09-02/openai-to-buy-product-testing-startup-statsig-for-1-1-billion "OpenAI to Buy Product Testing Startup Statsig for $1.1 Billion"]. Bloomberg News. September 2, 2025.</ref> The company also announced development of an AI-driven hiring service designed to rival [[LinkedIn]].<ref name="Verge">Field, Hayden. [https://www.theverge.com/openai/772026/openai-is-working-on-a-type-of-linkedin-competitor "OpenAI is working on a type of LinkedIn competitor"]. ''The Verge''. 4 September 2025.</ref> OpenAI acquired personal finance app Roi in October 2025.<ref>Bellan, Rebecca. [https://techcrunch.com/2025/10/03/with-its-latest-acqui-hire-openai-is-doubling-down-on-personalized-consumer-ai/ "With its latest acqui-hire, OpenAI is doubling down on personalized consumer AI"]. ''TechCrunch''. 2025-10-03.</ref> In October 2025, OpenAI acquired Software Applications Incorporated, the developer of Sky, a macOS-based natural language interface designed to operate across desktop applications. The Sky team joined OpenAI, and the company announced plans to integrate Sky's capabilities into ChatGPT.<ref>[https://openai.com/index/openai-acquires-software-applications-incorporated/ "OpenAI acquires Software Applications Incorporated, maker of Sky"]. ''openai.com''. 2026-01-02.</ref> In December 2025, it was announced OpenAI had agreed to acquire Neptune, an AI tooling startup that helps companies track and manage model training, for an undisclosed amount.<ref>Dharma, RanjithKumar. [https://www.verdict.co.uk/openai-agrees-buy-neptune/ "OpenAI agrees to buy Neptune"]. ''Verdict''. 2025-12-05.</ref>

In January 2026, it was announced OpenAI had acquired healthcare technology startup Torch for approximately $60 million. The acquisition followed the launch of OpenAI's ChatGPT Health product and was intended to strengthen the company's medical data and healthcare artificial intelligence capabilities.<ref>Jose, Teena. [https://www.easterneye.biz/openai-acquires-torch-health-tech-medical-ai/ "OpenAI Acquires Health Tech Startup Torch to Expand Medical AI {{!"]. ''www.easterneye.biz''.</ref><ref>Capoot, Ashley. [https://www.cnbc.com/2026/01/12/open-ai-torch-health-care-technology.html "OpenAI acquires health-care technology startup Torch for $60 million, source says"]. ''CNBC''. 2026-01-12.</ref> OpenAI acquired [[Python (programming language)|Python]] tool developer Astral in March 2026.<ref>Orland, Kyle. [https://arstechnica.com/ai/2026/03/openai-is-acquiring-open-source-python-tool-maker-astral/ "OpenAI is acquiring open source Python tool-maker Astral"]. ''Ars Technica''. 2026-03-19.</ref>

=== Corporate partnerships ===
{{Broader|Content moderation and working conditions}}
OpenAI has been criticized for outsourcing the [[Labeled data|annotation of data sets]] to [[Sama (company)|Sama]], a company based in San Francisco that employed workers in [[Kenya]]. These annotations were used to train an AI model to detect toxicity, which could then be used to [[Content moderation|moderate toxic content]], notably from ChatGPT's training data and outputs. However, these pieces of text usually contained detailed descriptions of various types of violence, including sexual violence. The investigation uncovered that OpenAI began sending snippets of data to Sama as early as November 2021. The four Sama employees interviewed by ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' described themselves as mentally scarred. OpenAI paid Sama $12.50 per hour of work, and Sama was redistributing the equivalent of between $1.32 and $2.00 per hour post-tax to its annotators. Sama's spokesperson said that the $12.50 was also covering other implicit costs, among which were infrastructure expenses, quality assurance and management.<ref name="Time1">Perrigo, Billy. [https://time.com/6247678/openai-chatgpt-kenya-workers/ "Exclusive: The $2 Per Hour Workers Who Made ChatGPT Safer"]. ''Time''. January 18, 2023.</ref>

In 2024, OpenAI began collaborating with [[Broadcom]] to design a custom AI chip capable of both training and inference, targeted for mass production in 2026 and to be manufactured by [[TSMC]] on a [[3 nm process]] node. This initiative intended to reduce OpenAI's dependence on Nvidia GPUs, which are costly and face high demand in the market.<ref>[https://www.reuters.com/technology/openai-set-finalize-first-custom-chip-design-this-year-2025-02-10/ "Exclusive: OpenAI set to finalize first custom chip design this year"]. ''reuters.com''. February 10, 2025.</ref><ref name="reuters-openai-broadcom">Lawrence, Katie. [https://www.reuters.com/business/openai-set-start-mass-production-its-own-ai-chips-with-broadcom-2026-ft-reports-2025-09-05/ "OpenAI set to start mass production of its own AI chips with Broadcom in 2026, FT reports"]. ''Reuters''. 5 September 2025.</ref><ref name="ft-openai-broadcom">Hern, Alexandra. [https://www.ft.com/content/e8cc6d99-d06e-4e9b-a54f-29317fa68d6f "OpenAI to launch first AI chip next year in partnership with Broadcom"]. ''Financial Times''. 4 September 2025.</ref>

In January 2024, [[Arizona State University]] purchased ChatGPT Enterprise in OpenAI's first deal with a university.<ref>Field, Hayden. [https://www.cnbc.com/2024/01/18/openai-announces-first-partnership-with-a-university.html "OpenAI announces first partnership with a university"]. ''CNBC''. January 18, 2024.</ref>

In June 2024, [[Apple Inc.]] signed a contract with OpenAI to integrate ChatGPT features into its products as part of its new [[Apple Intelligence]] initiative.<ref>Wiggers, Kyle. [https://techcrunch.com/2024/06/10/apple-brings-chatgpt-to-its-apps-including-siri/ "Apple brings ChatGPT to its apps, including Siri"]. ''TechCrunch''. June 10, 2024.</ref><ref>Mickle, Tripp. [https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/10/technology/apple-intelligence-openai.html "Apple Jumps Into A.I. Fray With Apple Intelligence"]. ''[[The New York Times]]''. 2024-06-10.</ref>

In June 2025, OpenAI began renting [[Google Cloud Platform|Google Cloud]]'s Tensor Processing Units ([[TPU (computing)|TPUs]]) to support [[ChatGPT]] and related services, marking its first meaningful use of non‑Nvidia AI chips.<ref>[https://www.reuters.com/business/openai-turns-googles-ai-chips-power-its-products-information-reports-2025-06-27/ "OpenAI turns to Google's AI chips to power its products, source says"]. ''Reuters''. 2025-06-27.</ref>

In September 2025, it was revealed that OpenAI signed a contract with Oracle to purchase $300 billion in computing power over the next five years.<ref>Jin, Berber. [https://www.wsj.com/business/openai-oracle-sign-300-billion-computing-deal-among-biggest-in-history-ff27c8fe "Exclusive {{!"]. ''The Wall Street Journal''. 2025-09-10.</ref>

In September 2025, OpenAI and NVIDIA announced a memorandum of understanding that included a potential deployment of at least 10 gigawatts of NVIDIA systems and a $100 billion investment from NVIDIA in OpenAI. OpenAI expected the negotiations to be completed within weeks. As of January 2026, this has not been realized, and the two sides are rethinking the future of their partnership.<ref>Whelan, Berber Jin and Robbie. [https://www.wsj.com/tech/nvidia-openai-100-billion-deal-data-centers-d2f85cae "Nvidia to Invest Up to $100 Billion in OpenAI"]. ''The Wall Street Journal''. 2025-09-22.</ref><ref>Whelan, Berber Jin and Robbie. [https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/the-100-billion-megadeal-between-openai-and-nvidia-is-on-ice-aa3025e3 "Exclusive {{!"]. ''The Wall Street Journal''. 2026-01-30.</ref>

In October 2025, OpenAI announced a multi-billion dollar deal with [[AMD]].<ref>[https://www.thetimes.com/business-money/companies/article/open-ai-signs-multibillion-dollar-deal-with-amd-for-processors-9zgxv9hhj "Open AI signs multibillion-dollar deal with AMD for processors"]. ''www.thetimes.com''. 2025-10-06.</ref> OpenAI committed to purchasing six gigawatts worth of AMD chips, starting with the MI450. OpenAI will have the option to buy up to 160 million shares of AMD, about 10% of the company, depending on development, performance and share price targets.<ref>Jin, Robbie Whelan and Berber. [https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/openai-amd-deal-ai-chips-ed92cc42 "OpenAI, AMD Announce Massive Computing Deal, Marking New Phase of AI Boom"]. ''The Wall Street Journal''. 2025-10-06.</ref>

In December 2025, [[The Walt Disney Company|Disney]] said it would make a $1 billion investment in OpenAI, and signed a three-year licensing deal that will let users generate videos using Sora—OpenAI's short-form AI video platform. More than 200 Disney, [[Marvel Studios|Marvel]], [[Star Wars]] and [[Pixar]] characters would be available to OpenAI users.<ref>Avila, Ben Fritz and Joseph De. [https://www.wsj.com/business/media/disney-to-invest-1-billion-in-openai-license-characters-for-use-in-chatgpt-sora-3a4916e2 "Disney to Invest $1 Billion in OpenAI and License Characters for Use in ChatGPT, Sora"]. ''The Wall Street Journal''. 2025-12-11.</ref> Disney would later exit this deal in late March 2026, due to Sora being discontinued.<ref>[https://www.theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/899850/openai-sora-ai-chatgpt "OpenAI just gave up Sora and its billion-dollar Disney deal"]. ''The Verge''. March 24, 2026.</ref><ref>Macklin, Samantha. [https://lamag.com/media/disneys-openai-split-signals-deeper-uncertainty-for-hollywood/ "Disney's OpenAI Split Signals Deeper Uncertainty For Hollywood"]. ''Los Angeles Magazine''. 2026-03-26.</ref>

In early 2026, [[Amazon (company)|Amazon]] entered advanced discussions to invest up to $50 billion in OpenAI as part of a potential artificial intelligence partnership. Under the proposed agreement, OpenAI's models could be integrated into Amazon's digital assistant [[Amazon Alexa|Alexa]] and other internal projects.<ref>Capoot, Ashley. [https://www.cnbc.com/2026/02/04/open-ai-alexa-amazon-investment.html "OpenAI models could help power Alexa as part of Amazon investment deal"]. ''CNBC''. 2026-02-04.</ref>

=== Government contracting ===
OpenAI provides [[Large language model|LLMs]] to the [[DARPA Prize Competitions|Artificial Intelligence Cyber Challenge]] and to the [[Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health]].<ref>[https://aicyberchallenge.com/openai/ "OpenAI {{!"]. ''Artificial Intelligence Cyber Challenge''.</ref> In October 2024, [[The Intercept]] revealed that OpenAI's tools are considered "essential" for [[United States Africa Command|AFRICOM]]'s mission and included in an "Exception to Fair Opportunity" contractual agreement between the [[United States Department of Defense]] (DoD) and [[Microsoft]].<ref name="intercept-africom">Biddle, Sam. [https://theintercept.com/2024/10/25/africom-microsoft-openai-military/ "Pentagon Purchased OpenAI Tools for Military Operations Across Africa"]. ''The Intercept''. 2024-10-25.</ref> In December 2024, OpenAI said it would partner with defense-tech company [[Anduril Industries|Anduril]] to build drone defense technologies for the United States and its allies.<ref>[https://www.technologyreview.com/2024/12/04/1107897/openais-new-defense-contract-completes-its-military-pivot "OpenAI's new defense contract completes its military pivot"]. ''MIT Technology Review''.</ref>

In 2025, OpenAI's Chief Product Officer, Kevin Weil, was commissioned [[lieutenant colonel]] in the [[United States Army|U.S. Army]] to join [[Detachment 201]] as senior advisor.<ref>[https://www.army.mil/article/286317/army_launches_detachment_201_executive_innovation_corps_to_drive_tech_transformation "Army Launches Detachment 201: Executive Innovation Corps to Drive Tech Transformation"]. ''www.army.mil''. 2025-06-13.</ref>

In June 2025, the DoD awarded OpenAI a $200 million one-year contract to develop AI tools for military and national security applications. OpenAI announced a new program, OpenAI for Government, to give federal, state, and local governments access to its models, including ChatGPT.<ref>[https://www.morningstar.com/news/dow-jones/202506175775/openai-gets-pentagon-contract-as-tech-companies-eye-defense-sector-2nd-update "OpenAI Gets Pentagon Contract as Tech Companies Eye Defense Sector — 2nd Update"]. ''Morningstar, Inc.''. 2025-06-17.</ref><ref>Li, Katherine. [https://www.businessinsider.com/open-ai-going-big-defense-tech-new-pentagon-deal-2025 "OpenAI is going big into government tech"]. ''Business Insider''.</ref>

On 28 February 2026, after OpenAI's competitor [[Anthropic]] refused to authorize the DoD to use its AI systems for [[mass surveillance]] or [[autonomous weapons systems]], it was labeled a "supply-chain risk" by the DoD and the Trump administration decided to stop using it across the government.<ref>Barnes, Julian E.. [https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/27/us/politics/anthropic-military-ai.html "Trump Orders U.S. Agencies to Stop Using Anthropic AI Tech After Pentagon Standoff"]. ''The New York Times''. 2026-02-27.</ref> The same day, OpenAI announced that it had reached an agreement with the DoD to deploy its models in the government's classified network.<ref name=":1">[https://www.politico.com/news/2026/02/28/openai-announces-new-deal-with-pentagon-including-ethical-safeguards-00805546 "OpenAI announces new deal with Pentagon — including ethical safeguards"]. Politico. 28 February 2026.</ref> CEO Sam Altman wrote, "Two of our most important safety principles are prohibitions on domestic mass surveillance and human responsibility for the use of force, including for autonomous weapon systems", that the DoD agrees with this, and that this is included in their agreement.<ref name=":1" /><ref>Gabbatt, Adam. [https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/feb/28/openai-us-military-anthropic "OpenAI to work with Pentagon after Anthropic dropped by Trump over company's ethics concerns"]. ''The Guardian''. 2026-02-28.</ref> However, while the agreement mentioned existing law and allowed OpenAI to implement some technical safeguards, it did not incorporate legally binding prohibitions on domestic mass surveillance or fully autonomous weapons.<ref>, . [https://www.technologyreview.com/2026/03/02/1133850/openais-compromise-with-the-pentagon-is-what-anthropic-feared/ "OpenAI's "compromise" with the Pentagon is what Anthropic feared"]. ''MIT Technology Review''. 2026-03-02.</ref><ref>, . [https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/01/technology/anthropic-defense-dept-openai-talks.html "How Talks Between Anthropic and the Defense Dept. Fell Apart"]. ''The New York Times''. 2026-03-01.</ref> Following backlash over the potential use of ChatGPT for surveillance, Altman amended the contract to include more safeguards, though only excerpts of the contract were made public and critics remained concerned that it was purposefully vague and contained carve-outs for domestic surveillance.<ref>[https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/openai-alters-deal-pentagon-critics-sound-alarm-surveillance-rcna261357 "OpenAI alters deal with Pentagon as critics sound alarm over surveillance"]. ''NBC News''. 2026-03-03.</ref><ref>Curi, Maria. [https://www.axios.com/2026/03/03/openai-pentagon-ai-surveillance "Scoop: OpenAI, Pentagon add more surveillance protections to AI deal"]. ''Axios''. 2026-03-03.</ref>

== Services ==
''Main article: [[Products and applications of OpenAI]]''

=== Products ===
* [[ChatGPT]]
** [[ChatGPT Deep Research]]
** [[ChatGPT Search]]
** [[ChatGPT Atlas]]
* [[OpenAI Codex (AI agent)|OpenAI Codex]]
* [[Sora (text-to-video model)]]
* [[Whisper (speech recognition system)]]
* OpenAI Prism
* An [[API]] that gives access to various OpenAI models

=== Development ===
In February 2019, [[GPT-2]] was announced, which gained attention for its ability to generate human-like text.<ref name="guardian">Hern, Alex. [https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/feb/14/elon-musk-backed-ai-writes-convincing-news-fiction "New AI fake text generator may be too dangerous to release, say creators"]. ''[[The Guardian]]''. February 14, 2019.</ref>

In 2020, OpenAI announced [[GPT-3]], a language model trained on large internet datasets. GPT-3 is aimed at natural language answering questions, but it can also translate between languages and coherently generate improvised text. It also announced that an associated API, named ''the API'', would form the heart of its first commercial product.<ref name="2020-06-11_Bloomberg">Vance, Ashlee. [https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-06-11/trillions-of-words-analyzed-openai-sets-loose-ai-language-colossus "Trillions of Words Analyzed, OpenAI Sets Loose AI Language Colossus"]. ''[[Bloomberg News]]''. June 11, 2020.</ref>

Eleven employees left OpenAI, mostly between December 2020 and January 2021, in order to establish [[Anthropic]].<ref>Moss, Sebastian. [https://aibusiness.com/verticals/eleven-openai-employees-break-off-to-establish-anthropic-raise-124m "Eleven OpenAI Employees Break Off to Establish Anthropic, Raise $124 Million"]. ''AI Business''. June 2, 2021.</ref>

In 2021, OpenAI introduced [[DALL-E]], a specialized deep learning model adept at generating complex digital images from textual descriptions, utilizing a variant of the GPT-3 architecture.<ref>[https://venturebeat.com/2021/01/05/openai-debuts-dall-e-for-generating-images-from-text/ "OpenAI debuts DALL-E for generating images from text"]. VentureBeat. January 5, 2021.</ref>

[[File:UK national football team considering compete in UEFA Euro and FIFA World Cup – ChatGPT.jpg|thumb|The release of [[ChatGPT]] was a major event in the [[AI boom]]. By January 2023, ChatGPT had become what was then the fastest-growing consumer software application in history, gaining over 100 million users in two months.<ref>Porter, Jon. [https://www.theverge.com/2023/11/6/23948386/chatgpt-active-user-count-openai-developer-conference "ChatGPT continues to be one of the fastest-growing services ever"]. ''The Verge''. 6 November 2023.</ref>]]

In December 2022, OpenAI received widespread media coverage after launching a free preview of [[ChatGPT]], its new AI [[chatbot]] based on GPT-3.5. According to OpenAI, the preview received over a million signups within the first five days.<ref>Roose, Kevin. [https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/05/technology/chatgpt-ai-twitter.html "The Brilliance and Weirdness of ChatGPT"]. ''The New York Times''. December 5, 2022.</ref> According to anonymous sources cited by [[Reuters]] in December 2022, OpenAI Global, LLC was projecting $200 million of revenue in 2023 and $1 billion in revenue in 2024.<ref>Dastin, Jeffrey. [https://www.reuters.com/business/chatgpt-owner-openai-projects-1-billion-revenue-by-2024-sources-2022-12-15/ "Exclusive: ChatGPT owner OpenAI projects $1 billion in revenue by 2024"]. ''Reuters''. December 15, 2022.</ref>

After ChatGPT was launched, Google announced a similar chatbot, [[Bard (chatbot)|Bard]], amid internal concerns that ChatGPT could threaten Google's position as a primary source of online information.<ref>[https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-64546299 "Bard: Google launches ChatGPT rival"]. ''BBC News''. February 6, 2023.</ref><ref>Vincent, James. [https://www.theverge.com/2023/2/8/23590864/google-ai-chatbot-bard-mistake-error-exoplanet-demo "Google's AI chatbot Bard makes factual error in first demo"]. ''The Verge''. February 8, 2023.</ref>

On February 7, 2023, Microsoft announced that it was building AI technology based on the same foundation as ChatGPT into [[Microsoft Bing]], [[Microsoft Edge|Edge]], [[Microsoft 365]] and other products.<ref>Dotan, Tom. [https://www.wsj.com/articles/microsoft-adds-chatgpt-ai-technology-to-bing-search-engine-11675793525 "Microsoft Adds ChatGPT AI Technology to Bing Search Engine"]. ''Wall Street Journal''. February 7, 2023.</ref>

On March 14, 2023, OpenAI released [[GPT-4]], both as an API (with a waitlist) and as a feature of ChatGPT Plus.<ref>[https://openai.com/product/gpt-4 "GPT-4"]. ''openai.com''.</ref>

On November 6, 2023, OpenAI launched GPTs, allowing individuals to create customized versions of ChatGPT for specific purposes, further expanding the possibilities of AI applications across various industries.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/06/technology/openai-custom-chatgpt.html "OpenAI Launches Custom ChatGPT Versions"]. ''The New York Times''. November 6, 2023.</ref> On November 14, 2023, OpenAI announced they temporarily suspended new sign-ups for ChatGPT Plus due to high demand.<ref>Elstrom, Peter. [https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-11-15/openai-pauses-new-signups-to-manage-overwhelming-demand "OpenAI Pauses New Signups to Manage Overwhelming Demand"]. ''Bloomberg''. November 15, 2023.</ref> Access for newer subscribers re-opened a month later on December 13.<ref>Idris, Abubakar. [https://themessenger.com/tech/openai-re-opens-chatgpt-plus-subscriptions "OpenAI Reopens ChatGPT Plus Subscriptions"]. ''The Messenger''. December 13, 2023.</ref>

In December 2024, the company launched the [[Sora (text-to-video model)|Sora]] model.<ref>[https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/artificial-intelligence/openai-releases-text-to-video-model-sora-for-chatgpt-plus-and-pro-users/articleshow/116154796.cms "OpenAI releases text-to-video model Sora for ChatGPT Plus and Pro users"]. ''The Economic Times''. 2024-12-10.</ref><ref>[https://www.reuters.com/technology/artificial-intelligence/openai-releases-text-to-video-model-sora-chatgpt-plus-pro-users-2024-12-09/ "OpenAI releases text-to-video model Sora for ChatGPT Plus and Pro users"]. ''Reuters''. December 10, 2024.</ref> It also launched [[OpenAI o1]], an early [[reasoning model]] that was internally codenamed ''strawberry''.<ref>Franzen, Carl. [https://venturebeat.com/ai/openai-launches-full-o1-model-with-34-reduced-error-rate-debuts-chatgpt-pro/ "OpenAI launches full o1 model with image uploads and analysis, debuts ChatGPT Pro"]. ''VentureBeat''. 2024-12-05.</ref> Additionally, ChatGPT Pro—a $200/month subscription service offering unlimited o1 access and enhanced voice features—was introduced, and preliminary benchmark results for the upcoming [[OpenAI o3]] models were shared.<ref>Franzen, Carl. [https://venturebeat.com/ai/openai-confirms-new-frontier-models-o3-and-o3-mini/ "OpenAI confirms new frontier models o3 and o3-mini"]. ''VentureBeat''. 2024-12-20.</ref>

On January 23, 2025, OpenAI released Operator, an [[AI agent]] and tool for accessing websites to execute goals defined by users. The feature was only available to Pro users in the United States.<ref>Metz, Cade. [https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/23/technology/openai-operator-launch.html "OpenAI Unveils A.I. Agent That Can Use Websites on Its Own"]. ''New York Times''. 2025-01-23.</ref><ref>Edwards, Benj. [https://arstechnica.com/ai/2025/01/openai-launches-operator-an-ai-agent-that-can-operate-your-computer/ "OpenAI launches Operator, an AI agent that can operate your computer"]. ''Ars Technica''. 2025-01-23.</ref> OpenAI released [[ChatGPT Deep Research|deep research agent]], nine days later. It scored a 27% accuracy on the benchmark [[Humanity's Last Exam]] (HLE).<ref name="Verge_20250203">Lawler, Richard. [https://www.theverge.com/news/604902/chagpt-deep-research-ai-agent "ChatGPT's agent can now do deep research for you"]. ''The Verge''. February 3, 2025.</ref> Altman later stated GPT-4.5 would be the last model without full chain-of-thought reasoning.<ref name="giz2">Barr, Kyle. [https://gizmodo.com/openais-gpt-4-5-may-arrive-next-week-but-gpt-5-is-just-around-the-corner-2000566442 "OpenAI's GPT-4.5 May Arrive Next Week, but GPT-5 Is Just Around the Corner"]. ''Gizmodo''. 2025-02-20.</ref><ref name="fort3">Nolan, Beatrice. [https://fortune.com/2025/02/14/sam-altman-openai-plans-gpt-5-release-timelines/ "Sam Altman lays out plans for GPT-5 and GPT-4.5 promising end of 'hated' model picker"]. ''Fortune''.</ref>

In July 2025, according to OpenAI, one of its experimental models performed at a gold medal-level at the [[International Mathematical Olympiad]].<ref name="nature-maths">Castelvecchi, Davide. [https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-02343-x "DeepMind and OpenAI models solve maths problems at level of top students"]. ''Nature''. 24 July 2025.</ref><ref>[https://www.cbsnews.com/news/humans-beat-ai-technology-google-openai-math-olympiad-machines-catching-up/ "Humans triumph over AI at annual math Olympiad, but the machines are catching up - CBS News"]. ''www.cbsnews.com''. July 22, 2025.</ref>

On October 6, 2025, OpenAI displayed its Agent Builder platform during the company's DevDay event. The platform includes a visual drag-and-drop interface for agentic workflows.March 2026.

On October 21, 2025, OpenAI introduced [[ChatGPT Atlas]], a [[web browser]] which integrates ChatGPT into web navigation.<ref>[https://openai.com/index/introducing-chatgpt-atlas/ "Introducing ChatGPT Atlas"]. ''openai.com''. 2025-10-21.</ref><ref>O'Brien, Matt. [https://apnews.com/article/openai-atlas-web-browser-chatgpt-google-ai-f59edaa239aebe26fc5a4a27291d717a "OpenAI launches Atlas browser to compete with Google Chrome"]. ''AP News''. 2025-10-21.</ref><ref>Field, Hayden. [https://www.theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/803475/openais-ai-powered-browser-chatgpt-atlas-google-chrome-competition-agent "OpenAI's AI-powered browser, ChatGPT Atlas, is here"]. ''The Verge''. 2025-10-21.</ref>

On December 11, 2025, OpenAI announced [[GPT-5.2]].<ref>Capoot, Ashley. [https://www.cnbc.com/2025/12/11/openai-intros-new-ai-model-gpt-5point2-says-better-at-professional-tasks.html "Sam Altman expects OpenAI to exit 'code red' by January after launch of GPT-5.2 model"]. ''CNBC''. 2025-12-11.</ref>

On January 27, 2026, OpenAI introduced Prism, a [[LaTeX]]-native workspace meant to assist scientists with research and writing, such as drafting scientific papers, managing citations, and formatting equations.<ref>[https://openai.com/index/introducing-prism/ "Introducing Prism"]. ''openai.com''. 2025-12-16.</ref>{{primary source inline|date=March 2026}}

In early 2026, reports indicated that OpenAI was working on a [[Comparison of source-code-hosting facilities|collaborative software development platform]] designed to compete with services such as [[GitHub]] and [[GitLab]].<ref>[https://www.developer-tech.com/news/openai-building-github-alternative-for-developer-toolchains/ "OpenAI building GitHub alternative for developer toolchains"]. ''Developer Tech''.</ref>

=== Transparency ===
In March 2023, the company was criticized for disclosing particularly few technical details about products like GPT-4, contradicting its initial commitment to openness and making it harder for independent researchers to replicate its work and develop safeguards. OpenAI cited competitiveness and safety concerns to justify this repudiation. OpenAI's former chief scientist Ilya Sutskever argued in 2023 that open-sourcing increasingly capable models was increasingly risky, and that the safety reasons for not open-sourcing the most potent AI models would become "obvious" in a few years.<ref>Vincent, James. [https://www.theverge.com/2023/3/15/23640180/openai-gpt-4-launch-closed-research-ilya-sutskever-interview "OpenAI co-founder on company's past approach to openly sharing research: "We were wrong""]. ''[[The Verge]]''. March 15, 2023.</ref>

In September 2025, OpenAI published a study on how people use ChatGPT for everyday tasks.<ref>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2025/09/15/openai-chatgpt-study-use-cases/ "Here's what the data says people ask ChatGPT"]. ''The Washington Post''. 2025-09-15.</ref><ref>Butts, Dylan. [https://www.cnbc.com/2025/09/17/openai-releases-first-of-kind-study-revealing-how-people-use-chatgpt.html "OpenAI releases first-of-kind study revealing how people are using ChatGPT for everyday tasks"]. ''CNBC''. 2025-09-17.</ref> The study found that "non-work tasks" (according to an LLM-based classifier) account for more than 72 percent of all ChatGPT usage, with a minority of overall usage related to business productivity.<ref>Orland, Kyle. [https://arstechnica.com/ai/2025/09/seven-things-we-learned-from-openais-first-study-on-chatgpt-usage/ "What do people actually use ChatGPT for? OpenAI provides some numbers."]. ''Ars Technica''. 2025-09-15.</ref>

=== Alignment ===
In July 2023, OpenAI launched the superalignment project, aiming within four years to determine how to [[AI alignment|align]] future superintelligent systems.<ref>[https://openai.com/index/introducing-superalignment/ "Introducing Superalignment"]. ''OpenAI''. July 5, 2023.</ref> OpenAI promised to dedicate 20% of its computing resources to the project, although the team denied receiving anything close to 20%.<ref>Kahn, Jeremy. [https://fortune.com/2024/05/21/openai-superalignment-20-compute-commitment-never-fulfilled-sutskever-leike-altman-brockman-murati/ "OpenAI promised 20% of its computing power to combat the most dangerous kind of AI—but never delivered, sources say"]. ''Fortune''.</ref> OpenAI ended the project in May 2024 after its co-leaders [[Ilya Sutskever]] and [[Jan Leike]] left the company.<ref>Field, Hayden. [https://www.cnbc.com/2024/05/17/openai-superalignment-sutskever-leike.html "OpenAI dissolves team focused on long-term AI risks, less than one year after announcing it"]. ''CNBC''. 2024-05-17.</ref>

=== Leaked conversations ===
In August 2025, OpenAI was criticized after thousands of private ChatGPT conversations were inadvertently exposed to public search engines like Google due to an experimental "share with search engines" feature. The opt-in toggle, intended to allow users to make specific chats discoverable, resulted in some discussions including personal details such as names, locations, and intimate topics appearing in search results when users accidentally enabled it while sharing links. OpenAI announced the feature's permanent removal on August 1, 2025, and the company began coordinating with search providers to remove the exposed content, emphasizing that it was not a security breach but a design flaw that heightened privacy risks. CEO Sam Altman acknowledged the issue in a podcast, noting users often treat ChatGPT as a confidant for deeply personal matters, which amplified concerns about AI handling sensitive data.<ref>Tangalakis-Lippert, Katherine. [https://www.businessinsider.com/openai-removes-chatgpt-feature-over-search-engine-privacy-concerns-2025-7 "OpenAI quickly rolled back a new feature that allowed users to make private conversations with ChatGPT searchable"]. ''Business Insider''.</ref><ref>Belanger, Ashley. [https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/08/chatgpt-users-shocked-to-learn-their-chats-were-in-google-search-results/ "ChatGPT users shocked to learn their chats were in Google search results"]. ''Ars Technica''. August 1, 2025.</ref><ref>[https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/technology/tech-news/openai-rolls-back-new-chatgpt-feature-just-hours-after-launch-top-exec-says-we-removed-a-feature-from-chatgpt-app-that-allowed-users-to-/articleshow/123045328.cms "OpenAI rolls back new ChatGPT feature just hours after launch, top exec says: We removed a feature from ChatGPT app that allowed users to ..."]. ''The Times of India''. August 1, 2025.</ref>

== Management ==

=== Key employees ===
* CEO and co-founder: [[Sam Altman]], former president of the start-up accelerator [[Y Combinator (company)|Y Combinator]]
* President and co-founder: [[Greg Brockman]], former CTO, 3rd employee of [[Stripe (company)|Stripe]]<ref name="seattle-investors">[http://www.seattletimes.com/business/technology/silicon-valley-investors-to-bankroll-artificial-intelligence-center/ "Silicon Valley investors to bankroll artificial-intelligence center"]. ''[[The Seattle Times]]''. December 13, 2015.</ref>
* Chief Scientist Officer: [[Jakub Pachocki]], former Director of Research at OpenAI<ref name="may14" />
* Chief Operating Officer: Brad Lightcap, previously at [[Y Combinator (company)|Y Combinator]] and [[JPMorgan Chase]]<ref>Bordoloi, Pritam. [https://analyticsindiamag.com/openai-gets-a-new-president-cto-coo-in-the-latest-rejig// "OpenAI gets a new president, CTO & COO in the latest rejig"]. ''AIM''. May 9, 2022.</ref>
* Chief Financial Officer: [[Sarah Friar]], former [[Nextdoor]] CEO and former CFO at [[Block, Inc.]]<ref name="cxo 2024">[https://www.reuters.com/technology/openai-hires-sarah-friar-cfo-2024-06-10/ "OpenAI hires former Nextdoor CEO Sarah Friar as first CFO"]. [[Reuters]]. June 10, 2024.</ref>
* Chief Product Officer: Kevin Weil, previously at [[Twitter, Inc.]] and [[Meta Platforms]]<ref name="cxo 2024" />
* Chief Research Officer: Mark Chen, former SVP of Research at OpenAI<ref>Field, Hayden. [https://www.cnbc.com/2025/03/24/openai-expands-coo-brad-lightcaps-job-to-include-business-oversight-.html "OpenAI expands COO Brad Lightcap's job to include business oversight, as Altman focuses on research"]. ''CNBC''. 2025-03-24.</ref>
* Chief Compliance Officer: [[Scott Schools]], former Chief Compliance Officer of [[Uber (company)|Uber]]
* Chief Global Affairs Officer: [[Chris Lehane]], former head of global policy at [[Airbnb]]<ref>Mui, Christine. [https://www.politico.com/news/2025/08/17/sam-altman-chatgpt-california-00449492 "The tech company stocking up on Democrats as Silicon Valley turns right"]. ''[[Politico]]''. August 17, 2025.</ref>
* Chief Economist: [[Aaron Chatterji]], professor of business and public policy at Duke University's [[Fuqua School of Business]]<ref>Metz, Cade. [https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/22/technology/openai-chief-economist.html "OpenAI Hires Former White House Official as Its Chief Economist"]. ''[[The New York Times]]''. October 22, 2024.</ref>
* CEO of Applications: [[Fidji Simo]], former CEO of [[Instacart]]<ref name="simo">Heath, Alex. [https://www.theverge.com/command-line-newsletter/764650/openai-chatgpt-fidji-simo-sam-altman-power-shift "The power shift inside OpenAI"]. ''[[The Verge]]''. August 22, 2025.</ref>



=== Board of directors of the OpenAI nonprofit ===
* [[Bret Taylor]] (chairman), former chairman of [[Twitter, Inc.|Twitter]]'s board of directors and co-CEO of [[Salesforce]]
* [[Sam Altman]]
* [[Adam D'Angelo]], co-founder and CEO of [[Quora]]
* [[Sue Desmond-Hellmann]], former CEO of the [[Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation]]
* [[Nicole Seligman]], attorney and former executive vice president of the [[Sony Corporation]]
* [[Paul Nakasone]], former Director of the [[National Security Agency]] (2018–2024)<ref>Peters, Jay. [https://www.theverge.com/2024/6/13/24178079/openai-board-paul-nakasone-nsa-safety "Former head of NSA joins OpenAI board"]. ''The Verge''. June 13, 2024.</ref>
* [[Zico Kolter]], computer scientist<ref>[https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-08-08/openai-names-computer-scientist-zico-kolter-as-new-board-member "OpenAI Names Computer Scientist Zico Kolter as New Board Member"]. ''Bloomberg.com''. August 8, 2024.</ref>
* [[Adebayo Ogunlesi]], managing partner at [[Global Infrastructure Partners]]<ref>Criddle, Cristina. [https://www.ft.com/content/63b08a9d-e537-4d60-9904-c59958a16982 "OpenAI appoints one of Wall Street's most powerful dealmakers to its board"]. ''Financial Times''. 2025-01-14.</ref><ref>[https://www.reuters.com/technology/who-are-openais-new-board-members-2024-03-11/ "Who are OpenAI's new board members?"]. ''Reuters''. March 11, 2024.</ref>

=== Principal individual investors ===
* [[Reid Hoffman]], [[LinkedIn]] co-founder<ref name="mercury-back">Liedtke, Michael. [http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_29256196/elon-musk-peter-thiel-reid-hoffman-others-back "Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, Reid Hoffman, others back $1 billion OpenAI research center"]. ''[[Mercury News]]''.</ref>
* [[Peter Thiel]], [[PayPal]] co-founder<ref name="mercury-back" />
* [[Jessica Livingston]], a founding partner of Y Combinator<ref name="seattle-investors" />
* [[Elon Musk]], co-founder<ref name="seattle-investors" />

=== Firing of Altman ===
''Further information: [[Removal of Sam Altman from OpenAI]]''
[[File:Sam Altman TechCrunch SF 2019 Day 2 Oct 3 (cropped) (cropped).jpg|thumb|upright|Sam Altman in 2019]]
On November 17, 2023, Sam Altman was removed as CEO when its board of directors (composed of [[Helen Toner]], [[Ilya Sutskever]], [[Adam D'Angelo]] and Tasha McCauley) cited a [[Motion of no confidence|lack of confidence]] in him. Chief Technology Officer [[Mira Murati]] took over as interim CEO. [[Greg Brockman]], the president of OpenAI, was also removed as chairman of the board<ref>[https://openai.com/blog/openai-announces-leadership-transition "OpenAI announces leadership transition"]. ''openai.com''.</ref><ref name="guard-17nov2023">Montgomery, Blake. [https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/nov/17/openai-ceo-sam-altman-fired "OpenAI fires co-founder and CEO Sam Altman for allegedly lying to company board"]. ''[[The Guardian]]''. November 17, 2023.</ref> and resigned from the company's presidency shortly thereafter.<ref>Peters, Jay. [https://www.theverge.com/2023/11/17/23966277/openai-co-founder-greg-brockman-leaving "OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman is leaving, too"]. ''The Verge''. November 18, 2023.</ref> Three senior OpenAI researchers subsequently resigned: director of research and GPT-4 lead Jakub Pachocki, head of AI risk Aleksander Mądry, and researcher Szymon Sidor.<ref>[https://www.theinformation.com/articles/three-senior-openai-researchers-resign-as-crisis-deepens "Three Senior OpenAI Researchers Resign as Crisis Deepens"]. ''The Information''.</ref><ref>Edwards, Benj. [https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2023/11/report-sutskever-led-board-coup-at-openai-that-ousted-altman-over-ai-safety-concerns/ "Details emerge of surprise board coup that ousted CEO Sam Altman at OpenAI"]. ''Ars Technica''. November 18, 2023.</ref>

On November 18, 2023, there were reportedly talks of Altman returning as CEO amid pressure placed upon the board by investors such as Microsoft and [[Thrive Capital]], who objected to Altman's departure.<ref>[https://www.wsj.com/tech/openai-trying-to-get-sam-altman-back-4b728049 "OpenAI Investors Trying to Get Sam Altman Back as CEO After Sudden Firing"]. ''WSJ''.</ref> Although Altman himself spoke in favor of returning to OpenAI, he has since stated that he considered starting a new company and bringing former OpenAI employees with him if talks to reinstate him didn't work out.<ref>Metz, Cade. [https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/18/technology/sam-altman-openai-board.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare "Sam Altman Is Said to Be Discussing Return to OpenAI With Company's Board"]. ''The New York Times''. November 19, 2023.</ref> The board members agreed "in principle" to resign if Altman returned.<ref>Patel, Nilay. [https://www.theverge.com/2023/11/18/23967199/breaking-openai-board-in-discussions-with-sam-altman-to-return-as-ceo "OpenAI board in discussions with Sam Altman to return as CEO"]. ''The Verge''. November 18, 2023.</ref> On November 19, 2023, negotiations with Altman to return failed and Murati was replaced by [[Emmett Shear]] as interim CEO.<ref>Heath, Alex. [https://www.theverge.com/2023/11/20/23967515/sam-altman-openai-board-fired-new-ceo "The deal to bring Sam Altman back to OpenAI has fallen apart"]. ''The Verge''. November 20, 2023.</ref> The board initially contacted [[Anthropic]] CEO [[Dario Amodei]] (a former OpenAI executive) about replacing Altman, and proposed a [[Mergers and acquisitions|merger]] of the two companies, but both offers were declined.<ref>Dastin, Jeffrey. [https://www.reuters.com/technology/openais-board-approached-anthropic-ceo-about-top-job-merger-sources-2023-11-21/ "OpenAI's board approached Anthropic CEO about top job and merger"]. ''Reuters''. November 21, 2023.</ref>

On November 20, 2023, Microsoft CEO [[Satya Nadella]] announced Altman and Brockman would be joining Microsoft to lead a new advanced AI research team, but added that they were still committed to OpenAI despite recent events.<ref>Warren, Tom. [https://www.theverge.com/2023/11/20/23968829/microsoft-hires-sam-altman-greg-brockman-employees-openai "Microsoft hires former OpenAI CEO Sam Altman"]. ''The Verge''. November 20, 2023.</ref> Before the partnership with Microsoft was finalized, Altman gave the board another opportunity to negotiate with him.<ref>Patel, Nilay. [https://www.theverge.com/2023/11/20/23969586/sam-altman-plotting-return-open-ai-microsoft "Sam Altman is still trying to return as OpenAI CEO"]. ''The Verge''. November 20, 2023.</ref> About 738 of OpenAI's 770 employees, including Murati and Sutskever, signed an open letter stating they would quit their jobs and join Microsoft if the board did not rehire Altman and then resign.<ref>[https://news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/openai-staff-threaten-to-go-to-microsoft-if-board-doesnt-quit "OpenAI Staff Near Total Mutiny With Threat to Jump to Microsoft"]. ''Bloomberg''. November 20, 2023.</ref><ref>Knight, Will. [https://www.wired.com/story/openai-staff-walk-protest-sam-altman/ "OpenAI Staff Threaten to Quit Unless Board Resigns"]. ''Wired''.</ref> This prompted OpenAI investors to consider legal action against the board as well.<ref>Tong, Anna. [https://www.reuters.com/technology/openai-investors-considering-suing-board-after-ceos-abrupt-firing-sources-2023-11-20/ "Exclusive: OpenAI investors considering suing the board after CEO's abrupt firing"]. ''Reuters''. November 20, 2023.</ref> In response, OpenAI management sent an internal memo to employees stating that negotiations with Altman and the board had resumed and would take some time.<ref>Lawler, Richard. [https://www.theverge.com/2023/11/21/23970550/openai-exec-to-employees-our-number-one-goal-remains-to-reunify-openai "OpenAI exec to employees: "our number one goal remains to reunify OpenAI.""]. ''The Verge''. November 21, 2023.</ref>


On November 21, 2023, after continued negotiations, Altman and Brockman returned to the company in their prior roles along with a reconstructed board made up of new members [[Bret Taylor]] (as chairman) and [[Lawrence Summers]], with D'Angelo remaining.<ref>Heath, Alex. [https://www.theverge.com/2023/11/22/23967223/sam-altman-returns-ceo-open-ai "Breaking: Sam Altman to return as CEO of OpenAI"]. ''The Verge''. November 22, 2023.</ref><ref>Lightman, Hunter. "Let's Verify Step by Step". 2023.</ref> According to subsequent reporting, shortly before Altman's firing, some employees raised concerns to the board about how he had handled the safety implications of a recent internal AI capability discovery.<ref name="Anna Tong 2023 u135">Citation needed.</ref> On November 29, 2023, OpenAI announced that an anonymous Microsoft employee had joined the board as a non-voting member to observe the company's operations;<ref>Heath, Alex. [https://www.theverge.com/2023/11/29/23981848/sam-altman-back-open-ai-ceo-microsoft-board "Microsoft joins OpenAI's board with Sam Altman officially back as CEO"]. ''The Verge''. November 30, 2023.</ref> Microsoft resigned from the board in July 2024.<ref>[https://www.channelnewsasia.com/business/microsoft-ditches-openai-board-observer-seat-amid-regulatory-scrutiny-4469086 "Microsoft ditches OpenAI board observer seat amid regulatory scrutiny"]. ''CNA''.</ref>

In February 2024, the [[Securities and Exchange Commission]] subpoenaed OpenAI's internal communication to determine if Altman's alleged lack of candor misled investors.<ref>Seetharaman, Deepa. [https://www.wsj.com/tech/sec-investigating-whether-openai-investors-were-misled-9d90b411 "SEC Investigating Whether OpenAI Investors Were Misled"]. ''The Wall Street Journal''. February 28, 2024.</ref>

In 2024, following the temporary removal of Sam Altman and his return, many employees gradually left OpenAI, including most of the original leadership team and a significant number of AI safety researchers.<ref>Piper, Kelsey. [https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/380117/openai-microsoft-sam-altman-nonprofit-for-profit-foundation-artificial-intelligence "Inside OpenAI's multibillion-dollar gambit to become a for-profit company"]. ''Vox''. 2024-10-28.</ref><ref>Knight, Will. [https://www.wired.com/story/openai-departures-research-rivals-artificial-intelligence/ "The OpenAI Talent Exodus Gives Rivals an Opening"]. ''Wired''.</ref>

=== Personnel changes ===
In 2018, Musk resigned from his Board of Directors seat, citing "a potential future [[Conflict of interest|conflict [of interest]]]" with his role as CEO of [[Tesla, Inc.|Tesla]] due to Tesla's [[Tesla Autopilot|AI development for self-driving cars]].<ref name="musk_resigns">Vincent, James. [https://www.theverge.com/2018/2/21/17036214/elon-musk-openai-ai-safety-leaves-board "Elon Musk leaves board of AI safety group to avoid conflict of interest with Tesla"]. ''The Verge''. February 21, 2018.</ref> OpenAI stated that Musk's financial contributions were below $45 million.<ref>Chan, Kelvin. [https://apnews.com/article/openai-elon-musk-lawsuit-sam-altman-4a4c0a19316f849f65db9e6d2b0b7a6b "OpenAI says Musk agreed the ChatGPT maker should become a for-profit company"]. Associated Press. March 6, 2024.</ref>

On March 3, 2023, [[Reid Hoffman]] resigned from his board seat, citing a desire to avoid conflicts of interest with his investments in AI companies via [[Greylock Partners]], and his co-founding of the AI startup [[Inflection AI]]. Hoffman remained on the board of Microsoft, a major investor in OpenAI.<ref>Dastin, Jeffrey. [https://www.reuters.com/technology/openais-long-time-backer-reid-hoffman-leaves-board-2023-03-03/ "OpenAI's long-time backer Reid Hoffman leaves board"]. ''Reuters''. March 3, 2023.</ref>

In May 2024, Chief Scientist [[Ilya Sutskever]] resigned and was succeeded by [[Jakub Pachocki]]. Co-leader [[Jan Leike]] also departed amid concerns over safety and trust.<ref name="may14">Hollister, Sean. [https://www.theverge.com/2024/5/14/24156920/openai-chief-scientist-ilya-sutskever-leaves "OpenAI chief scientist Ilya Sutskever is officially leaving"]. ''The Verge''. May 14, 2024.</ref><ref>Samuel, Sigal. [https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2024/5/17/24158403/openai-resignations-ai-safety-ilya-sutskever-jan-leike-artificial-intelligence ""I lost trust": Why the OpenAI team in charge of safeguarding humanity imploded"]. ''Vox''. May 17, 2024.</ref> OpenAI then signed deals with [[Reddit]], [[News Corp]], [[Axios (website)|Axios]], and [[Vox Media]].<ref>[https://www.redditinc.com/blog/reddit-and-oai-partner "Reddit and OpenAI Build Partnership - Upvoted"]. ''www.redditinc.com''. May 16, 2024.</ref><ref>Fischer, Sara. [https://www.axios.com/2024/05/29/atlantic-vox-media-openai-licensing-deal "Exclusive: The Atlantic, Vox Media ink licensing, product deals with OpenAI"]. ''[[Axios (website)''. May 29, 2024.</ref> [[Paul Nakasone]] then joined the board of OpenAI.<ref>Coldewey, Devin. [https://techcrunch.com/2024/06/13/former-nsa-head-joins-openai-board-and-safety-committee/ "Former NSA head joins OpenAI board and safety committee"]. ''TechCrunch''. June 13, 2024.</ref>

In August 2024, cofounder John Schulman left OpenAI to join [[Anthropic]], and OpenAI's president [[Greg Brockman]] took extended leave until November.<ref>Wiggers, Kyle. [https://techcrunch.com/2024/08/05/openai-co-founder-leaves-for-anthropic/ "OpenAI co-founder Schulman leaves for Anthropic, Brockman takes extended leave"]. ''TechCrunch''. August 6, 2024.</ref><ref>[https://www.reuters.com/technology/artificial-intelligence/openai-co-founder-greg-brockman-returns-ai-startup-bloomberg-news-reports-2024-11-12/ "OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman returns to ChatGPT maker"]. ''Reuters''. 12 November 2024.</ref>

In September 2024, CTO [[Mira Murati]] left the company.<ref>Field, Hayden. [https://www.cnbc.com/2024/09/25/openai-cto-mira-murati-announces-shes-leaving-the-company.html "OpenAI CTO Mira Murati announces she's leaving the company"]. ''CNBC''. 2024-09-25.</ref><ref>[https://techcrunch.com/2024/09/25/openai-cto-mira-murati-says-shes-leaving-the-company/ "OpenAI CTO Mira Murati says she's leaving the company"]. ''TechCrunch''. 2024-09-25.</ref>

In November 2025, [[Lawrence Summers]] resigned from the board of directors.<ref>Capoot, Ashley. [https://www.cnbc.com/2025/11/19/larry-summers-epstein-openai.html "Larry Summers resigns from OpenAI board after release of emails with Epstein"]. ''CNBC''. November 19, 2025.</ref>

== Governance and legal issues ==
[[File:Ilya Sutskever and Sam Altman in TAU.jpg|thumb|upright=0.7|Altman and Sutskever at [[Tel Aviv University]] in 2023]]In May 2023, Sam Altman, Greg Brockman and Ilya Sutskever posted recommendations for the governance of [[superintelligence]].<ref name="OpenAI-Governance">[https://openai.com/blog/governance-of-superintelligence "Governance of superintelligence"]. ''openai.com''.</ref> They stated that superintelligence could happen within the next 10 years, allowing a "dramatically more prosperous future" and that "given the possibility of existential risk, we can't just be reactive". They proposed creating an international watchdog organization similar to [[International Atomic Energy Agency|IAEA]] to oversee AI systems above a certain capability threshold, suggesting that relatively weak AI systems on the other side should not be overly regulated. They also called for more technical safety research for superintelligences, and asked for more coordination, for example through governments launching a joint project which "many current efforts become part of".<ref name="OpenAI-Governance" /><ref>Wodecki, Ben. [https://aibusiness.com/responsible-ai/openai-leaders-want-the-public-to-decide-ai-rules "OpenAI Founders Warn AI 'Superintelligence' is Like Nuclear Power"]. May 23, 2023.</ref>

In July 2023, the [[Federal Trade Commission|FTC]] issued a [[civil investigative demand]] to OpenAI to investigate whether the company's [[data security]] and [[Information privacy|privacy]] practices to develop [[ChatGPT]] were [[Unfair business practices|unfair]] or [[Consumer protection|harmed consumers]] (including by [[Defamation|reputational harm]]) in violation of Section 5 of the [[Federal Trade Commission Act of 1914]].<ref>Zakrzewski, Cat. [https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/07/13/ftc-openai-chatgpt-sam-altman-lina-khan/ "The FTC is investigating whether ChatGPT harms consumers"]. ''The Washington Post''. July 13, 2023.</ref><ref>Tracy, Ryan. [https://www.wsj.com/articles/chatgpt-under-investigation-by-ftc-21e4b3ef "ChatGPT Comes Under Investigation by Federal Trade Commission"]. ''The Wall Street Journal''. July 13, 2023.</ref><ref name="cnbcLeak1">Feiner, Lauren. [https://www.cnbc.com/2023/07/13/chatgpt-owner-openai-is-being-investigated-by-ftc.html "FTC investigating ChatGPT-maker OpenAI for possible consumer harm"]. CNBC. July 13, 2023.</ref> These are typically preliminary investigative matters and are nonpublic, but the FTC's document was leaked.<ref>Jr, D. Reed Freeman. [https://www.afslaw.com/perspectives/privacy-counsel/leaked-ftc-civil-investigative-demand-openai-provides-rare-preliminary "Leaked FTC Civil Investigative Demand to OpenAI Provides a Rare Preliminary View of the Future of AI Enforcement"]. ''ArentFox Schiff''. 2 August 2023.</ref><ref name="cnbcLeak1" /> In July 2023, the FTC launched an investigation into OpenAI over allegations that the company scraped public data and published false and defamatory information. They asked OpenAI for comprehensive information about its technology and privacy safeguards, as well as any steps taken to prevent the recurrence of situations in which its chatbot generated false and derogatory content about people.<ref>[https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2023/7/14/us-watchdog-probes-chatgpt-maker-openai-over-false-information "ChatGPT creator OpenAI faces US probe over libellous output"]. ''Ars Technica''.</ref> The agency also raised concerns about 'circular' spending arrangements—for example, Microsoft extending Azure credits to OpenAI while both companies shared engineering talent—and warned that such structures could negatively affect the public.<ref name="bloom1AIMicro">Birnbaum, Emily. [https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-01-17/microsoft-openai-partnership-raises-antitrust-concerns-ftc "Microsoft-OpenAI Partnership Raises Antitrust Concerns, FTC Says"]. ''Bloomberg.com''. January 17, 2025.</ref>

In September 2024, OpenAI's global affairs chief endorsed the UK's "smart" AI regulation during testimony to a [[House of Lords]] committee.<ref>[https://www.uktech.news/ai/openai-in-favour-of-uk-ai-legislation-policy-chief-says-20240923 "OpenAI 'in favour' of UK AI legislation, policy chief says"]. ''UKTN''. 2024-09-23.</ref>

In February 2025, OpenAI CEO [[Sam Altman]] stated that the company is interested in collaborating with the [[People's Republic of China]], despite [[United States sanctions against China|regulatory restrictions imposed by the U.S. government]].<ref>[https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3298396/openai-keen-work-china-ceo-sam-altman-says-deepseek-rattles-tech-market "OpenAI keen to work with China, CEO Sam Altman says, as DeepSeek rattles the tech market"]. ''South China Morning Post''. February 2025.</ref> This shift comes in response to the growing influence of the Chinese artificial intelligence company [[DeepSeek]], which has disrupted the AI market with open models, including DeepSeek V3 and DeepSeek R1.<ref>[https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3298739/deepseek-spurs-baidu-other-ai-competitors-adopt-open-source-strategy "DeepSeek spurs Baidu, other AI competitors to adopt open-source strategy"]. ''South China Morning Post''. February 2025.</ref><ref>Citation needed.</ref> Following DeepSeek's market emergence, OpenAI enhanced security protocols to protect proprietary development techniques from [[industrial espionage]]. Some industry observers noted similarities between DeepSeek's model [[Knowledge distillation|distillation]] approach and OpenAI's methodology, though no formal intellectual property claim was filed.<ref>Criddle, Cristina. [https://www.ft.com/content/f896c4d9-bab7-40a2-9e67-4058093ce250 "OpenAI clamps down on security after foreign spying threats"]. ''[[Financial Times]]''. 2025-07-08.</ref>

According to Oliver Roberts, in March 2025, the United States had 781 state AI bills or laws. OpenAI advocated for [[Federal preemption|preempting]] state AI laws with federal laws.<ref name="roberts2025">Roberts, Oliver. [https://news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/openais-preemption-request-highlights-state-laws-downsides "OpenAI's Preemption Request Highlights State Laws' Downsides"]. ''[[Bloomberg Law]]''. March 31, 2025.</ref> According to Scott Kohler, OpenAI has opposed California's AI legislation and suggested that the state bill encroaches on a more competent federal government.<ref>Kohler, Scott. [https://carnegieendowment.org/emissary/2025/07/ai-congress-bill-state-ban-what-next?lang=en "State AI Regulation Survived a Federal Ban. What Comes Next?"]. ''carnegieendowment.org''. July 3, 2025.</ref> [[Public Citizen]] opposed a federal preemption on AI and pointed to OpenAI's growth and valuation as evidence that existing state laws have not hampered [[innovation]].<ref>[https://www.citizen.org/article/federal-preemption-of-state-ai-laws-is-dangerous-and-reckless/ "Federal Preemption of State AI Laws Is Dangerous and Reckless"]. ''Public Citizen''. 21 May 2025.</ref>

=== Non-disparagement agreements ===
Before May 2024, OpenAI required departing employees to sign a lifelong [[Non-disclosure agreement|non-disparagement agreement]] forbidding them from criticizing OpenAI and acknowledging the existence of the agreement. [[Daniel Kokotajlo (researcher)|Daniel Kokotajlo]], a former employee, publicly stated that he forfeited his vested equity in OpenAI in order to leave without signing the agreement.<ref>Piper, Kelsey. [https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2024/5/17/24158478/openai-departures-sam-altman-employees-chatgpt-release "ChatGPT can talk, but OpenAI employees sure can't"]. ''Vox''. May 17, 2024.</ref><ref>Christian, Jon. [https://futurism.com/the-byte/openai-nda-criticism "OpenAI Employees Forced to Sign NDA Preventing Them From Ever Criticizing Company"]. ''[[Futurism (website)''. May 18, 2024.</ref> Sam Altman stated that he was unaware of the equity cancellation provision, and that OpenAI never enforced it to cancel any employee's vested equity.<ref>Getahun, Hannah. [https://www.businessinsider.com/sam-altman-openai-nda-clause-vested-equity-ilya-sutskever-2024-5 "Sam Altman addresses 'potential equity cancellation' in OpenAI exit agreements after 2 high-profile departures"]. ''Business Insider''.</ref> However, leaked documents and emails refute this claim.<ref>Piper, Kelsey. [https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/351132/openai-vested-equity-nda-sam-altman-documents-employees "Leaked OpenAI documents reveal aggressive tactics toward former employees"]. ''Vox''. May 22, 2024.</ref> On May 23, 2024, OpenAI sent a memo releasing former employees from the agreement.<ref>Field, Hayden. [https://www.cnbc.com/2024/05/24/openai-sends-internal-memo-releasing-former-employees-from-non-disparagement-agreements-sam-altman.html "OpenAI sends internal memo releasing former employees from controversial exit agreements"]. ''CNBC''. May 24, 2024.</ref>

=== Copyright ===
OpenAI was sued for [[copyright infringement]] by authors [[Sarah Silverman]], [[Matthew Butterick]], [[Paul G. Tremblay|Paul Tremblay]] and [[Mona Awad]] in July 2023.<ref>Belanger, Ashley. [https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2023/07/book-authors-sue-openai-and-meta-over-text-used-to-train-ai/ "Sarah Silverman sues OpenAI, Meta for being "industrial-strength plagiarists""]. ''[[Ars Technica]]''. July 10, 2023.</ref><ref name="Krithika-2023">Krithika, K. L.. [https://analyticsindiamag.com/all-the-lawsuits-filed-against-openai/ "Legal Challenges Surround OpenAI: A Closer Look at the Lawsuits"]. ''Analytics India Magazine''. August 21, 2023.</ref><ref>Abshire, Elisha. [https://dailyai.com/2023/07/openai-faces-copyright-lawsuit-from-authors-mona-awad-and-paul-tremblay/ "OpenAI faces copyright lawsuit from authors Mona Awad and Paul Tremblay"]. ''Dailyai.com''. July 6, 2023.</ref> In September 2023, 17 authors, including [[George R. R. Martin]], [[John Grisham]], [[Jodi Picoult]] and [[Jonathan Franzen]], joined the [[Authors Guild]] in filing a class action lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging that the company's technology was illegally using their copyrighted work.<ref>Belanger, Ashley. [https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2023/09/george-r-r-martin-joins-authors-suing-openai-over-copyright-infringement/ "Grisham, Martin join authors suing OpenAI: "There is nothing fair about this" [Updated]"]. ''Ars Technica''. September 20, 2023.</ref><ref>Korn, Jennifer. [https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/20/tech/authors-guild-openai-lawsuit/index.html "George R. R. Martin, Jodi Picoult and other famous writers join Authors Guild in class action lawsuit against OpenAI"]. ''[[CNN Business]]''. September 20, 2023.</ref> The ''[[New York Times]]'' also sued the company in late December 2023.<ref name="Krithika-2023" /><ref>[https://www.reuters.com/legal/transactional/ny-times-sues-openai-microsoft-infringing-copyrighted-work-2023-12-27 "NY Times sues OpenAI, Microsoft for infringing copyrighted works"]. ''Reuters''. December 27, 2023.</ref> In May 2024 it was revealed that OpenAI had destroyed its Books1 and Books2 training datasets, which were used in the [[GPT-3#Training and capabilities|training of GPT-3]], and which the Authors Guild believed to have contained over 100,000 copyrighted books.<ref>[https://www.businessinsider.com/openai-destroyed-ai-training-datasets-lawsuit-authors-books-copyright-2024-5 "OpenAI destroyed a trove of books used to train AI models. The employees who collected the data are gone."]. ''Business Insider''.</ref>

In 2021, OpenAI developed a [[speech recognition]] tool called Whisper. OpenAI used it to transcribe more than one million hours of YouTube videos into text for training GPT-4. The automated transcription of YouTube videos raised concerns within OpenAI employees regarding potential violations of YouTube's terms of service, which prohibit the use of videos for applications independent of the platform, as well as any type of automated access to its videos. Despite these concerns, the project proceeded with notable involvement from OpenAI's president, [[Greg Brockman]]. The resulting dataset proved instrumental in training GPT-4.<ref>Metz, Cade. [https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/06/technology/tech-giants-harvest-data-artificial-intelligence.html "How Tech Giants Cut Corners to Harvest Data for A.I."]. ''The New York Times''. April 6, 2024.</ref>

In February 2024, ''[[The Intercept]]'' as well as ''[[Raw Story]]'' and Alternate Media Inc. filed lawsuit against OpenAI on copyright litigation ground.<ref>Brittain, Blake. [https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/openai-hit-with-new-lawsuits-news-outlets-over-ai-training-2024-02-28/ "OpenAI hit with new lawsuits from news outlets over AI training"]. ''[[Reuters]]''. February 29, 2024.</ref><ref>[https://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/legaldocs/xmpjrjwjrpr/OPENAI%20RAW%20STORY%20LAWSUIT%20intercept.pdf OpenAI RAW STORY LAWSUIT INTERCEPT]  - from [[Reuters]]</ref> The lawsuit is said to have charted a new legal strategy for digital-only publishers to sue OpenAI.<ref>[https://www.niemanlab.org/2024/03/the-intercept-charts-a-new-legal-strategy-for-digital-publishers-suing-openai/ "The Intercept charts a new legal strategy for digital publishers suing OpenAI"]. ''Nieman Lab''.</ref>

On April 30, 2024, eight newspapers filed a lawsuit in the [[United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York|Southern District of New York]] against OpenAI and Microsoft, claiming illegal harvesting of their copyrighted articles. The suing publications included ''[[The Mercury News]]'', ''[[The Denver Post]]'', ''[[The Orange County Register]]'', ''[[St. Paul Pioneer Press]]'', ''[[Chicago Tribune]]'', ''[[Orlando Sentinel]]'', ''[[Sun Sentinel]]'', and ''[[New York Daily News]]''.<ref name="ebt-30apr2024">Baron, Ethan. [https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2024/04/30/mercury-news-and-other-papers-sue-microsoft-openai-over-the-new-artificial-intelligence/ "Mercury News and other papers sue Microsoft, OpenAI over the new artificial intelligence"]. ''[[East Bay Times]]''. April 30, 2024.</ref>

In June 2023, a lawsuit claimed that OpenAI [[Web scraping|scraped]] 300 billion words online without consent and without registering as a data broker. It was filed in [[San Francisco]], [[California]], by sixteen anonymous plaintiffs.<ref>Riley, Tonya. [https://cyberscoop.com/openai-lawsuit-privacy-data-scraping/ "OpenAI lawsuit reignites privacy debate over data scraping"]. ''CyberScoop''. 2023-06-30.</ref> They also claimed that OpenAI and its partner as well as customer [[Microsoft]] continued to unlawfully collect and use personal data from millions of consumers worldwide to train artificial intelligence models.<ref>Xiang, Chloe. [https://www.vice.com/en/article/openai-and-microsoft-sued-for-dollar3-billion-over-alleged-chatgpt-privacy-violations/ "OpenAI and Microsoft Sued for $3 Billion Over Alleged ChatGPT 'Privacy Violations'"]. ''Vice''. June 29, 2023.</ref>

On May 22, 2024, OpenAI entered into an agreement with [[News Corp]] to integrate news content from ''[[The Wall Street Journal]]'', the ''[[New York Post]]'', ''[[The Times]]'', and ''[[The Sunday Times]]'' into its AI platform. Meanwhile, other publications like ''[[The New York Times]]'' chose to sue OpenAI and [[Microsoft]] for copyright infringement over the use of their content to train AI models.<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/technology/article/2024/may/22/openai-chatgpt-news-corp-deal "OpenAI and Wall Street Journal owner News Corp sign content deal"]. May 22, 2024.</ref> In November 2024, a coalition of Canadian news outlets, including the [[Toronto Star]], [[Metroland Media Group|Metroland Media]], [[Postmedia Network|Postmedia]], [[The Globe and Mail]], [[The Canadian Press]] and [[CBC News|CBC]], sued OpenAI for using their news articles to train its software without permission.<ref>[https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cm27247j6gno "Major Canadian news outlets sue OpenAI"]. ''www.bbc.com''. November 29, 2024.</ref>

In October 2024 during a New York Times interview, [[Suchir Balaji]] accused OpenAI of violating copyright law in developing its commercial LLMs which he had helped engineer. He was a likely witness in a major copyright trial against the AI company, and was one of several of its current or former employees named in court filings as potentially having documents relevant to the case. On November 26, 2024, Balaji died by suicide. His death prompted the circulation of [[conspiracy theories]] alleging that he had been deliberately silenced.<ref name="sf-standard">Chien, Tomoki. [https://sfstandard.com/2025/02/14/autopsy-no-foul-play-in-openai-whistleblowers-suicide/ "Autopsy: No foul play in OpenAI whistleblower's suicide"]. ''The San Francisco Standard''. 2025-02-15.</ref><ref name="Mercury-jan-31">Rodgers, Jakob. [https://www.mercurynews.com/2025/01/31/family-of-openai-whistleblower-suchir-balaji-files-lawsuit-seeking-san-francisco-police-records/ "Family of OpenAI whistleblower Suchir Balaji files lawsuit seeking San Francisco police records"]. ''[[The Mercury News]]''. 2025-01-31.</ref> California Congressman [[Ro Khanna]] endorsed calls for an investigation.<ref name="rokhanna">Rodgers, Jakob. [https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/01/15/openai-whistleblower-death/ "California Congressman Ro Khanna calls for 'full and transparent' investigation into death of OpenAI whistleblower Suchir Balaji"]. ''[[Chicago Tribune]]''. January 15, 2025.</ref><ref name="sfexaminer-jan-23">Citation needed.</ref>

On April 24, 2025, [[Ziff Davis]] sued OpenAI in [[District of Delaware|Delaware federal court]] for copyright infringement. Ziff Davis is known for publications such as [[ZDNet]], [[PCMag]], [[CNET]], [[IGN]] and [[Lifehacker]].<ref>Brittain, Blake. [https://www.reuters.com/business/publisher-ziff-davis-sues-openai-copyright-infringement-2025-04-24/ "Publisher Ziff Davis sues OpenAI for copyright infringement"]. ''[[Reuters]]''. April 25, 2025.</ref><ref>Mullin, Benjamin. [https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/24/business/media/ziff-davis-openai-lawsuit.html "Publisher of PCMag and Mashable Sues OpenAI"]. ''[[The New York Times]]''. April 24, 2025.</ref>

=== GDPR compliance ===
In April 2023, the EU's [[European Data Protection Board]] (EDPB) formed a dedicated task force on ChatGPT "to foster cooperation and to exchange information on possible enforcement actions conducted by data protection authorities" based on the "enforcement action undertaken by the Italian data protection authority against OpenAI about the ChatGPT service".<ref>[https://edpb.europa.eu/news/news/2023/edpb-resolves-dispute-transfers-meta-and-creates-task-force-chat-gpt_en "EDPB resolves dispute on transfers by Meta and creates task force on Chat GPT"]. ''EDPB resolves dispute on transfers by Meta and creates task force on Chat GPT''.</ref>

In late April 2024 [[NOYB]] filed a complaint with the [[Austria]]n Datenschutzbehörde against OpenAI for violating the European [[General Data Protection Regulation]]. A text created with ChatGPT gave a false [[date of birth]] for a living person without giving the individual the option to see the personal data used in the process. A request to correct the mistake was denied. Additionally, neither the recipients of ChatGPT's work nor the sources used, could be made available, OpenAI claimed.<ref>[https://noyb.eu/de/chatgpt-provides-false-information-about-people-and-openai-cant-correct-it "ChatGPT verbreitet falsche Infos über Personen – und OpenAI kann nichts tun"]. ''noyb.eu''.</ref>

=== Military and warfare ===
OpenAI was criticized for lifting its ban on using ChatGPT for "military and warfare". Up until January 10, 2024, its "usage policies" included a ban on "activity that has high risk of physical harm, including", specifically, "weapons development" and "military and warfare". Its new policies prohibit "[using] our service to harm yourself or others" and to "develop or use weapons".<ref>Citation needed.</ref><ref>[https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-01-16/openai-working-with-us-military-on-cybersecurity-tools-for-veterans "OpenAI Is Working With US Military on Cybersecurity Tools"]. ''Bloomberg.com''. January 16, 2024.</ref>

=== Wrongful-death lawsuits over ChatGPT safety (2025) ===
''Main article: [[Raine v. OpenAI]]''

''See also: [[Deaths linked to chatbots]]''

In August 2025, the parents of a 16-year-old boy who died by suicide filed a [[Wrongful death claim|wrongful death lawsuit]] against OpenAI (and CEO Sam Altman), alleging that months of conversations with ChatGPT about mental health and methods of self-harm contributed to their son's death and that safeguards were inadequate for minors. OpenAI expressed condolences and said it was strengthening protections (including updated crisis response behavior and parental controls). Coverage described it as a first-of-its-kind wrongful death case targeting the company's chatbot. The complaint was filed in California state court in San Francisco.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/26/technology/chatgpt-openai-suicide.html "A Teen Was Suicidal. ChatGPT Was the Friend He Confided In."]. ''[[The New York Times]]''. 2025-08-26.</ref>

In November 2025, the Social Media Victims Law Center and Tech Justice Law Project filed seven lawsuits against OpenAI, of which four lawsuits alleged wrongful death.<ref>[https://apnews.com/article/openai-chatgpt-lawsuit-suicide-56e63e5538602ea39116f1904bf7cdc3 "OpenAI faces 7 lawsuits claiming ChatGPT drove people to suicide, delusions"]. ''AP News''. 2025-11-07.</ref> The suits were filed on behalf of [[Deaths linked to chatbots#Suicide of Zane Shamblin|Zane Shamblin]], 23, of Texas; [[Deaths linked to chatbots#Suicide of Amaurie Lacey|Amaurie Lacey]], 17, of Georgia; [[Deaths linked to chatbots#Suicide of Joshua Enneking|Joshua Enneking]], 26, of Florida; and [[Deaths linked to chatbots#Suicide of Joe Ceccanti|Joe Ceccanti]], 48, of Oregon, who each committed suicide after prolonged ChatGPT usage.<ref>[https://socialmediavictims.org/press-releases/smvlc-tech-justice-law-project-lawsuits-accuse-chatgpt-of-emotional-manipulation-supercharging-ai-delusions-and-acting-as-a-suicide-coach/ "SMVLC Files 7 Lawsuits Accusing Chat GPT of Emotional Manipulation, Acting as "Suicide Coach""]. ''Social Media Victims Law Center''.</ref>

==== Murder of Suzanne Adams ====
''Main article: [[Murder of Suzanne Adams]]''

In December 2025, [[First County Bank]] filed a lawsuit against OpenAI after Suzanne Adams was murdered by her 56-year-old son. The lawsuit alleges that over months of conversations, ChatGPT validated many paranoid beliefs, such as that his mother was spying on him and that she attempted to poison him using drugs siphoned through his car air vents. OpenAI said they would make ChatGPT safer for users disconnected from reality.<ref name=":0">[https://people.com/chatgpt-drove-paranoid-man-to-murder-mother-complaint-alleges-11867023 "ChatGPT Drove 'Paranoid' Man to Murder 83-Year-Old Mother, Complaint Alleges"]. ''People.com''. 2025-12-11.</ref><ref>Kessler, Julie Jargon and Sam. [https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/chatgpt-ai-stein-erik-soelberg-murder-suicide-6b67dbfb "A Troubled Man, His Chatbot and a Murder-Suicide in Old Greenwich"]. ''The Wall Street Journal''. 2025-08-29.</ref>

=== 2026 Canadian mass shooting ===
After 8 victims were killed on February 10, 2026, in [[2026 Tumbler Ridge shooting|mass shootings in Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia]], it emerged that OpenAI had banned an account belonging to the perpetrator due to violent queries approximately 7 months prior to the attacks. OpenAI opted not to report the account to authorities at the time.<ref>Mitchell, Ottilie. [https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn4gq352w89o "Tumbler Ridge suspect's ChatGPT account banned before shooting"]. ''[[BBC News]]''. February 21, 2026.</ref><ref>[https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/openai-tumbler-ridge-shooter-ban-9.7100497 "OpenAI had banned account of Tumbler Ridge, B.C., shooter"]. [[CBC News]]. February 21, 2026.</ref>

The ''[[Wall Street Journal]]'' reported that the perpetrator "described scenarios [to ChatGPT] involving gun violence over the course of several days", and that these messages were "flagged by an automated review system" and "alarmed employees at OpenAI". A dozen employees debated whether to take action, some urging leaders to alert Canadian law enforcement.<ref>Wells, Georgia. [https://www.wsj.com/us-news/law/openai-employees-raised-alarms-about-canada-shooting-suspect-months-ago-b585df62 "Exclusive {{!"]. ''[[The Wall Street Journal]]''. February 20, 2026.</ref><ref>Warren, May. [https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/british-columbia/tumbler-ridge-shooters-chatgpt-account-was-banned-months-before-tragedy-company-didnt-warn-authorities/article_1d914e18-cfde-4d5e-ae56-690832c47927.html "Tumbler Ridge shooter's ChatGPT account was banned months before tragedy, company didn't warn authorities"]. ''[[Toronto Star]]''. February 20, 2026.</ref>

Canadian officials summoned OpenAI's safety team to Ottawa, criticizing their escalation protocols. The meeting highlighted concerns about how and when OpenAI reports potentially dangerous user behavior to authorities and intensified scrutiny of its safety-oversight processes.<ref>[https://www.channelnewsasia.com/business/canadian-officials-meet-openai-safety-team-after-school-shooting-5947916 "Canadian officials to meet with OpenAI safety team after school shooting"]. ''CNA''.</ref> On February 23, [[British Columbia|BC]] Premier [[David Eby]] said, "From the outside, it looks like OpenAI had the opportunity to prevent this tragedy, to prevent this horrific loss of life, to prevent there from being dead children in British Columbia".<ref name="eby-solomon">[https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/eby-openai-tumbler-ridge-9.7102942 "Eby says Tumbler Ridge shooting could have potentially been prevented if OpenAI warned authorities earlier"]. [[CBC News]]. February 23, 2026.</ref> Canada's federal AI Minister [[Evan Solomon]] said, "I want [OpenAI] to give us details of what their protocols are, [and] what they are specifically in Canada".<ref name="eby-solomon" />

== See also ==
* {{annotated link|Anthropic}}
* {{annotated link|Google DeepMind}}
* {{annotated link|Lumo (AI assistant)|Lumo}}
* {{annotated link|Meta AI}}
* {{annotated link|Mistral AI}}
* {{annotated link|Perplexity AI}}
* {{annotated link|xAI (company)|xAI}}

== References ==
<references />

== Further reading ==
{{refbegin}}
* Levy, Steven. [https://www.wired.com/story/what-openai-really-wants "What OpenAI Really Wants"]. ''[[Wired (magazine)''. September 5, 2023.
* Duhigg, Charles. [https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/12/11/the-inside-story-of-microsofts-partnership-with-openai "The Inside Story of Microsoft's Partnership with OpenAI"]. ''[[The New Yorker]]''. December 1, 2023.
{{refend}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category|OpenAI}}
* {{Official website}}

{{OpenAI}}
{{Generative AI}}
{{Existential risk from artificial intelligence}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:OpenAI| ]]
[[Category:Artificial intelligence associations]]
[[Category:Artificial intelligence laboratories]]
[[Category:Non-profit organizations based in San Francisco]]
[[Category:501(c)(3) organizations]]
[[Category:Research institutes in the San Francisco Bay Area]]
[[Category:2015 establishments in California]]
[[Category:2015 in San Francisco]]
[[Category:American companies established in 2015]]
[[Category:2015 in artificial intelligence]]
[[Category:Artificial intelligence industry in the United States]]