OpenAI has announced plans to lift its 100x investor profit cap and restructure its governance amid growing investor pressure, raising serious concerns about diluted nonprofit oversight, internal conflicts of interest, and CEO Sam Altman’s embattled leadership. (Source: Image by RR)

OpenAI Rushed Safety Evaluations to Meet Product Timelines, Say Insiders

In a major strategic shift, OpenAI has announced plans to remove its previously established 100x cap on investor returns—a limit originally designed to ensure that if artificial general intelligence (AGI) led to massive value creation, most of the resulting wealth would be shared with humanity rather than concentrated among investors. The removal of this cap is intended to unlock new funding opportunities but also raises concerns that OpenAI is moving away from its foundational principles of aligning AI development with broad societal benefit.

The company’s restructuring appears to blur the line between nonprofit oversight and for-profit incentives. While OpenAI insists it has retained nonprofit governance, details suggest that the board’s authority may be significantly weakened under the new framework. This shift, as noted in openaifiles.org, would hinder the nonprofit’s ability to enforce mission-aligned accountability, even as OpenAI continues to promote its altruistic aims publicly. Critics argue that the revised structure is being shaped more by investor demands than by principled design.

Indeed, OpenAI has acknowledged that investor pressure is a central force behind the changes. Key backers have reportedly tied continued investment to structural reforms—chief among them, the elimination of profit caps. Ironically, OpenAI’s original structure was meant to resist this very dynamic, providing mission-first insulation from financial influence. Now, the very safeguards intended to preserve ethical guardrails appear to be dissolving under economic pressure, leading to renewed scrutiny from employees, policymakers, and the public.

Meanwhile, the leadership of CEO Sam Altman is under increasing fire. A history of controversy—including multiple internal attempts to remove him across different companies, accusations of deceptive conduct, and revelations about restrictive employee NDAs—has called his stewardship into question. Allegations of safety process shortcuts, a culture of secrecy, and conflicts of interest within OpenAI’s board have further eroded trust. Despite these mounting issues, the company is advancing with its restructuring plans—without any announced recusals from conflicted board members, and with billions in future returns hanging in the balance.

read more at openaifiles.org