A good grilling

Over the last few months, plenty has been writ­ten about OpenAI and its ChatGPT. Thanks to arti­fi­cial intel­li­gence, the chat­bot is able to engage in dialo­gue as if it were a person. We deci­ded to ask it a couple of questions.

Which legal entity are you?

ChatGPT: I’m not a legal entity. I’m an AI model trai­ned by OpenAI.

Are you a foundation?

No, I’m not a foun­da­tion. I’m part of a company, OpenAI LP, which is orga­nised as a limi­ted partnership.

Is OpenAI a foundation?

Yes, OpenAI is a nonpro­fit foun­da­tion. It is an orga­ni­sa­tion rese­ar­ching arti­fi­cial intel­li­gence and deve­lo­p­ment with the aim of promo­ting the bene­fits of AI for ever­yone and mini­mi­sing the risks asso­cia­ted with this.

How is OpenAI financed?

OpenAI is prima­rily finan­ced through invest­ments by private persons and compa­nies. It has also ente­red into part­ner­ships with other compa­nies to deve­lop and market joint rese­arch-based projects and products. OpenAI pursues a for-profit busi­ness stra­tegy and aims to reach a sustainable finan­cial footing so it can conti­nue its rese­arch and deve­lo­p­ment work.

Who are these private persons?

The private persons who have inves­ted in OpenAI encom­pass an array of inves­tors, inclu­ding successful entre­pre­neurs, venture capi­tal firms, family offices and other insti­tu­tio­nal inves­tors. Howe­ver, precise infor­ma­tion about the iden­ti­ties of these inves­tors is kept confi­den­tial by OpenAI and is not available to the public