--- title: "OpenAI Was Founded to Counter Bad AI, Now Worth Billions as It Does The Opposite" description: "In spite of being founded as a humanity-benefitting non-profit, OpenAI now appears to be doing the opposite with a multi-billion-dollar investment offer." date: "2023-01-06" modified: "2023-01-06" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/openai-billions-bad-ai" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" - "OpenAI" tags: - "artificial intelligence" - "OpenAI" - "the digest" - "venture capital" --- # OpenAI Was Founded to Counter Bad AI, Now Worth Billions as It Does The Opposite ![In spite of being founded as a humanity-benefitting non-profit, OpenAI now appears to be doing the opposite with a multi-billion-dollar investment offer.]() *\Image: Futurism\* ## Dolla Dolla Billions In spite of being founded as a [humanity-benefitting nonprofit](), OpenAI now appears to be doing the opposite as it considers an investment that would make it worth nearly $30 billion, built on its arguably nefarious software. As the [*Wall Street Journal* reports](), insiders say OpenAI is currently weighing an offer to sell a majority of its shares to venture capital firms that would ultimately put its value around $29 billion. The *WSJ* notes that the deal would see the Thrive Capital and Founders Fund firms purchasing at least $300 million in OpenAI shares, and roughly doubling the company's valuation and making it one of the highest-valued startups in the world. ## Turned Tables The OpenAI of today is a far cry from its altruistic, not-for-profit dreams from 2015, when [Elon Musk co-founded]() it with several other Silicon Valley types. Most of those founders, [including Musk](), are no longer with the lab-turned-company. After initial proclamations about [building "safe" AI]() in its early years, OpenAI abruptly turned coat in 2019 when Y Combinator's Sam Altman, who was and remains the company's CEO, [created a for-profit arm]() to attract investment. The gambit worked, with [Microsoft investing a cool $1 billion]() in OpenAI later in 2019. Along the road to for-profit status, however, OpenAI lost Musk, who openly stated just a month before announcements about the company's for-profit arm that he "[didn't agree]()" with the direction it was headed. ## Scary Smart In the ensuing years, OpenAI's powerful neural networks have gotten tons of press for their sophistication — though [not all that press]() has been good. Indeed, the same year it went for-profit, the firm itself initially claimed that its text-generating GPT-2 algorithm was [too dangerous for public consumption]() — but then went ahead and [released it months later]() anyway. In 2022, the company made further waves first with its next-level [DALL-E2 image generator]() and then its [ChatGPT software](), which generates text so human-sounding that academics had a veritable freakout over students potentially using it to [write their papers]() for them. And at the end of the day, the fact that it went from a pro-social research project to an industry-changing behemoth in seven years is enough to give anyone pause. That it may or may not end up releasing powerful AI into society — and likely replacing countless human workers — when its founders initially wanted to do the opposite is, frankly, not a great look. **More on OpenAI:** [*In a Fresh Horror, ChatGPT Can Apply to Jobs Now*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()