Good morning.
I’ve written here before about the pitfalls of chasing profit without purpose. But what about the pitfalls of chasing purpose without profit? That seems to be at the core of the dispute among the founders of OpenAI. The company was started as a nonprofit, dedicated to deploying AI “for the benefit of all” and to avoiding uses of AI that will “unduly concentrate power.” But with the release of ChatGPT it instantly became an economic powerhouse, with a market value of tens of billions of dollars and a relationship with Microsoft—the original undue concentration of tech power—that caused the tech giant's stock price to soar.
Count me as one who prefers the for-profit model. A new technology with massive value for society should make the people who invent it wealthy and will concentrate power in the their hands. That’s how capitalism works. You are unlikely to change that by declaring your business a not-for-profit, dedicated to the benefit of all. Instead, you replace the relative clarity that comes from a principled pursuit of profit with the confusion that comes from a committee empowered as keepers of true purpose. Neither system is perfect. But the first has a far better track record of delivering value to society.
The OpenAI battle also clearly reminds us where power lies in today’s economy. The vast majority of OpenAI employees—more than 90%—have signed a letter demanding Sam Altman be reinstalled as CEO. If he isn’t, they can walk right out the door and sign up at Microsoft, which has cleverly hired Altman and former president Greg Brockman to lead a "new AI research team." However the OpenAI boardroom drama ends, Microsoft wins.
More news below.
Alan Murray
@alansmurray
alan.murray@fortune.com
