The Wall Street Journal

OpenAI Executives Rattled by Campaigns to Derail For-Profit Restructuring

Startup’s leaders discuss last-ditch prospect of leaving California if regulators complicate transition to for-profit company

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. Photo: Will Oliver/Press pool

OpenAI executives are growing concerned that mounting political scrutiny in California could stymie their efforts to become a for-profit company and have discussed a last-ditch option of moving out of the state.

Some of California’s biggest philanthropies, nonprofits and labor groups are joining forces to push back on the startup’s high-stakes restructuring plan. Because OpenAI is controlled by a nonprofit, they are asking the state’s attorney general to ensure the new company it creates doesn’t violate the state’s charitable trust law.

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