OpenAI said it plans to overhaul its corporate structure in 2025 by establishing a public benefit corporation (PBC) to manage its operations, a move aimed at raising substantial capital to fund its artificial intelligence ambitions.
The restructuring will see OpenAI’s current for-profit entity converted into a Delaware-incorporated PBC, which balances shareholder interests with a public benefit mission.
Meanwhile, OpenAI’s non-profit parent will oversee charitable initiatives in healthcare, education, and science, supported by a significant equity stake in the PBC.
The changes aim to address the financial demands of AGI development, which requires vast computational resources and talent. OpenAI’s latest $6.6 billion funding round, which valued the company at $157 billion, hinged on removing profit caps for investors and adopting a more conventional equity structure.
“We once again need to raise more capital than we’d imagined,” OpenAI said, adding that the PBC framework would allow it to secure funding on competitive terms, similar to rivals like Anthropic and xAI.
Since its founding in 2015 as a research-focused non-profit, OpenAI has evolved into a business generating significant revenue through products like ChatGPT, which now has over 300 million weekly users. The shift to a for-profit model in 2019 allowed the company to secure critical investments, including $1 billion from Microsoft.
OpenAI’s board stated that the new structure aims to sustain its non-profit mission while equipping the PBC to lead in the emerging AGI-driven economy.
“We seek to evolve… helping to build the AGI economy and ensuring it benefits humanity,” the company said.