> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://spyglass.org/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # OpenAI's Messy Metamorphosis - URL: https://spyglass.org/openai-metamorphosis/ - Published: 2024-09-03T13:54:11.000Z - Updated: 2024-09-10T15:27:41.000Z - Description: As it morphs from the non-profit past to the must-profit future... - Author: M.G. Siegler - Tags: startups, ai, openai, tech, microsoft, apple, vc, #nodate [ OpenAI, Still Haunted by Its Chaotic Past, Is Trying to Grow Up The maker of ChatGPT is struggling to transform itself into a profit-driven company while satisfying worries about the safety of artificial intelligence. ![](https://www.nytimes.com/vi-assets/static-assets/favicon-d2483f10ef688e6f89e23806b9700298.ico) NYT Cade Metz & Mike Isaac ![](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2024/08/27/multimedia/00new-openai-sam2-cjqv/00new-openai-sam2-cjqv-superJumbo.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp) ](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/03/technology/openai-chatgpt-revenue.html?ref=spyglass.org) Not much new here – we know there's been [a lot of turnover at OpenAI](https://spyglass.org/openai-non-non-profit/), including [some very high profile folks](https://spyglass.org/safe-superintelligence-openai/), even more new people brought in, while the company is making a lot of money, but burning even more of it, as such, [a fundraise is ongoing](https://spyglass.org/apple-openai-investment/), with some of the biggest companies in the world, [who are also partners](https://spyglass.org/apple-openai-investment-chatgpt/) – but a few interesting anecdotes flesh out the current state of things and seem to highlight some continued internal tensions at the startup. Tensions, which are totally and completely normal, to hear OpenAI tell it: > “It is pretty common to see these kinds of additions — and also subtractions — but we are under such bright lights,” said Jason Kwon, OpenAI’s chief strategy officer. “Everything becomes magnified.” I mean sure, it's true that all startups have growing pains, but it's not "common" for startups to have *these* types of growing pains. Most don't have boardroom coups and have to deal with the loss of nearly the entire founding team – certainly not this near to achieving breakout success. And most don't have [co-founders suing them](https://spyglass.org/agi-definition/), *twice*. And most don't have [this building tension](https://spyglass.org/microsofts-hedge-against-openai/) with their main backer, at least not this early, and again, in the success state. And most don't have a main backer that is [one of the largest companies in the world](https://spyglass.org/openai-microsoft-ai/), which is also [competing for business](https://spyglass.org/tiktokward/) and breakthroughs. And most don't have that main backer hold *no actual equity* in the business. And most don't have the co-founder and CEO also have [no equity](https://finance.yahoo.com/news/sam-altman-says-doesn-t-204324251.html?ref=spyglass.org) in the business! Hell, [even the boardroom movements](https://spyglass.org/apple-openai-board/) – or *non-movements* – [are dramatic](https://spyglass.org/openai-board-apple-microsoft/). One might call this all decidedly "uncommon". Yes, it's all magnified – success does that – but this is also way more to magnify than your usual startup. Part of that is the sector – AI is seemingly driving every narrative in tech right now from [startups](https://spyglass.org/ai-hype/) to [VC](https://spyglass.org/ai-investment-crash/) to [public companies](https://spyglass.org/nvidia-stock-whiplash/). Part of it is the swirl around Sam Altman, and yes, that history with Elon Musk. But the largest part of it all still seems to stem from the fact that the company was set up one way and is now clearly a very different company. That's obviously what led to a lot of that early team leaving – with a number either starting competitive projects or otherwise [joining competitive projects](https://spyglass.org/amazon-anthropic-alexa/). And it's what led to the boardroom coup. The merits there still aren't fully clear, but without question, that would not have happened if OpenAI were set up as a "normal" startup. And now as they try to morph into more of a "normal" startup, perhaps in tandem with this new financing, the tensions are all boiling over. On top of all that, it's possible that the stakes have never been higher for a startup just given the space in which it operates. With that in mind, this is mildly terrifying: > Today, OpenAI has more than 1,700 employees, and 80 percent of them started after the release of ChatGPT in November 2022\. That's 1,360 employees with less than two years of tenure at a company which started nearly nine years ago. But again, this is a very different company, now. It's a very different company, period. [Apple and OpenAI Now Have a Way for Money to Change HandsApple’s investment in OpenAI would effectively be paying for ChatGPT![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/af/ca/afcaa655-46e2-45b8-889a-2881de5cce69/content/images/size/w256h256/2024/08/Spyglass-Rings---Multi.png)SpyglassM.G. Siegler![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/af/ca/afcaa655-46e2-45b8-889a-2881de5cce69/content/images/size/w1200/2024/08/1800s-Money-Exchange.jpeg)](https://spyglass.org/apple-openai-investment-chatgpt/) [\*Of Course\* Apple is Investing in OpenAIThe writing was on the wall -- also it was on Spyglass…![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/af/ca/afcaa655-46e2-45b8-889a-2881de5cce69/content/images/size/w256h256/2024/08/Spyglass-Rings---Multi.png)SpyglassM.G. Siegler![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/af/ca/afcaa655-46e2-45b8-889a-2881de5cce69/content/images/size/w1200/2024/08/Apple-giving-money-to-OpenAI.jpeg)](https://spyglass.org/apple-openai-investment/) [Microsoft’s Hedge Against OpenAIConnecting all the obvious dots…![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/af/ca/afcaa655-46e2-45b8-889a-2881de5cce69/content/images/size/w256h256/2024/08/Spyglass-Rings---Multi.png)SpyglassM.G. Siegler![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/af/ca/afcaa655-46e2-45b8-889a-2881de5cce69/content/images/2024/08/DALL-E-2024-08-10-17.59.23---A-close-up-view-of-someone-trimming-a-hedge.-The-scene-shows-the-hedge--which-is-dense-and-green--being-carefully-shaped-with-a-pair-of-pruning-shears-1.webp)](https://spyglass.org/microsofts-hedge-against-openai/) [Nothing Boring About OpenAI’s BoardApple’s role rescinded, Microsoft’s role renounced…![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/af/ca/afcaa655-46e2-45b8-889a-2881de5cce69/content/images/size/w256h256/2024/08/Spyglass-Rings---Multi.png)SpyglassM.G. Siegler![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/af/ca/afcaa655-46e2-45b8-889a-2881de5cce69/content/images/2024/07/Board-Room-People-Shadows.png)](https://spyglass.org/openai-board-apple-microsoft/) [OpenAI Generates More TurmoilIt’s probably time to change that non-profit structure for good…![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/af/ca/afcaa655-46e2-45b8-889a-2881de5cce69/content/images/size/w256h256/2024/08/Spyglass-Rings---Multi.png)SpyglassM.G. Siegler![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/af/ca/afcaa655-46e2-45b8-889a-2881de5cce69/content/images/2024/08/DALL-E-2024-08-06-17.58.58---An-image-of-a-company-in-turmoil_-a-chaotic-office-scene-with-stressed-employees--papers-flying-around--broken-computers--and-a-manager-looking-frustr.webp)](https://spyglass.org/openai-non-non-profit/)