According to news from Deep Tide TechFlow on December 26, The Information reported that OpenAI CEO Sam Altman plans to transform OpenAI from a non-profit organization into a for-profit company, with Microsoft being a key obstacle in this process. Microsoft has committed more than $13 billion to OpenAI and holds significant influence in the restructuring. The core topics of negotiation between the two parties since October last year include: Microsoft's equity in the for-profit entity, whether to continue as OpenAI's exclusive cloud service provider, the duration of Microsoft's use of OpenAI's intellectual property, and Microsoft's right to extract 20% of revenue from OpenAI.
If OpenAI cannot complete the transformation within two years, investors can reclaim $7.2 billion plus interest, putting time pressure on the company. Additionally, OpenAI plans to repurchase some employee stocks after the transformation, which makes employees hope the change will be completed soon.