OpenAI tells Senate its nonprofit arm will remain while a public benefit corporation is created to raise capital

Sam Altman, cofounder and chief executive officer of OpenAI, told the Senate Commerce Committee that OpenAI intends to keep its nonprofit research arm while creating a public benefit corporation (PBC) to raise capital for large‑scale model development and deployment.

In response to a senator’s question about a recent corporate governance filing, Altman said the organization’s original plan was to maintain a robust nonprofit entity and to have a PBC operate the commercial activities that require outside capital. “We never planned to have the nonprofit convert into anything,” Altman said. He added that the structure is intended to let the organization raise funds and deliver services at scale while preserving the nonprofit mission.

Altman said the decision followed “productive conversations with a lot of stakeholders and a lot of lawyers and a lot of regulators,” and that the timing reflected deliberations about capital structure, governance and how to protect the nonprofit’s mandate. He told senators the goal was to have a well‑resourced nonprofit working alongside a PBC that adheres to the organization’s stated mission.

Ending: Altman said OpenAI would continue conversations with regulators and stakeholders as it advances the corporate structure; senators said they would follow up with questions for the record and review any filings that bear on governance and public interest obligations.