RESEARCH REPORT
The OpenAI Files
Published June 18, 2025
Last Updated June 18, 2025
The OpenAI Files is the most comprehensive collection to date of documented concerns with governance practices, leadership integrity, and organizational culture at OpenAI.
Key Findings
Our investigation has identified four major areas of concern.
OpenAI’s Transformation
OpenAI was founded in 2015 as a nonprofit organization with the mission of making sure AGI benefits humanity. By 2019, it had transitioned to a hybrid structure with a “capped-profit” subsidiary—a commercially-focused for-profit company, but one with a legal duty to the OpenAI mission, and with 100x caps on how much money investors could make.
Now, under investor pressure, OpenAI is attempting to remove those profit caps as they restructure into a public benefit corporation without a fiduciary duty to humanity. They will claim that the nonprofit is retaining control—and in some limited sense it is—but the truth is that their mission may still be sidelined.
Then
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"We’ve designed OpenAI LP to put our overall mission—ensuring the creation and adoption of safe and beneficial AGI—ahead of generating returns for investors [. . .] Regardless of how the world evolves, we are committed—legally and personally—to our mission."
OpenAI
March 11, 2019
OpenAI LP Announcement
View Original Source
Now
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“Our plan is to transform our existing for-profit into a Delaware Public Benefit Corporation with ordinary shares of stock … The PBC is a structure used by many others that requires the company to balance shareholder interests, stakeholder interests, and a public benefit interest in its decision-making.”
OpenAI
December 27, 2024
Why OpenAI's Structure Must Evolve to Advance Our Mission
A Culture of Recklessness and Secrecy
Evidence suggests that OpenAI is avoiding transparency and deprioritizing safety practices as it races to commercialize new models.
2024
A Vision for Change
In many ways, OpenAI is not a typical organization, but foremost among them is the scope of their mission. They are engaged in what may prove to be a profoundly important project, and as such, they ought to hold themselves to an unusually high standard. We present a vision for change across three areas for reform: responsible governance, ethical leadership, and shared benefits. By implementing many of these changes, OpenAI can begin to reorient toward their mission, repair their culture, and better fulfill their critically important mission.
Responsible Governance
Organizational structures must ensure that decisions are made carefully, risks are managed, and commitments are maintained.
Ethical Leadership
The standard for leaders guiding this work should be unusually high, and leadership should be carefully vetted for integrity and conflicts of interest.
Shared Benefits
Binding commitments should be upheld to ensure AI benefits are widely distributed.
