OpenAI

OpenAI: The Evolution

OpenAI began in 2015 as a non-profit research lab, created with the stated goal of ensuring that artificial general intelligence (AGI) would benefit humanity. 

In its early years, the organization focused on open research, safety, and long-term alignment, supported by large funding commitments rather than commercial revenue.

That structure, however, was not built for the realities of large-scale AI training.

As model sizes and compute requirements grew, OpenAI faced a practical constraint: cutting-edge AI development required levels of capital that a traditional non-profit could not sustain. This pressure led to a series of structural changes that reshaped the organization.

3 Phases of OpenAI’s Structure

OpenAI’s journey is defined by three distinct eras.

Phase 1: Non-Profit Research (2015–2018)

In its initial phase, OpenAI operated purely as a non-profit. Research outputs were largely open, and there was no commercial model. This period laid important groundwork, but it also became clear that meaningful progress beyond early systems would require far greater resources.

Phase 2: The Capped-Profit Model (2019–2025)

In 2019, OpenAI created OpenAI LP, a capped-profit structure. OpenAI stated that first-round investor returns were capped at 100x., with excess value flowing back to the non-profit.

This phase enabled the development and deployment of the GPT model series, which marked OpenAI’s transition from research to widely used AI products. Models from GPT-3 through GPT-5 demonstrated that large language models could be commercially viable, powering applications across writing, coding, analysis, and customer support.

In 2022, ChatGPT was launched, which made the GPT models accessible to everyone via a web-based chat interface. 

As GPT models became central to OpenAI’s identity, infrastructure, not algorithms alone, became the primary bottleneck. Development and widespread adoption of the GPT models dramatically increased OpenAI’s dependence on compute. 

Phase 3: Public Benefit Corporation (2025– )

In October 2025, OpenAI completed another major restructuring. The operating entity became OpenAI Group PBC, a Public Benefit Corporation, while the original non-profit was reorganized as the OpenAI Foundation.

Under this structure:

• The PBC is legally required to balance shareholder returns with a public-benefit mission

• OpenAI Foundation retains a significant equity stake (reported at ~26%)

• OpenAI gained greater flexibility to raise capital 

From Software to Infrastructure

By late 2025, OpenAI was no longer positioning itself solely as a software or an LLM company. With Project Stargate, OpenAI launched a long-term initiative of investing $500 billion in AI infrastructure to create the capability to protect America’s national security and create jobs.

Alongside its structural shift, OpenAI announced and expanded several high-profile partnerships in late 2025 for its move toward large-scale infrastructure. 

• Microsoft: Azure cloud & deployment.
• SoftBank: Infrastructure capital partner; part of Stargate commitment.
• Oracle: Data-center & cloud infrastructure for AI compute. 
• MGX: Sovereign capital backing Stargate.
• NVIDIA, AMD AWS: GPU hardware partners.
• Arm: Technology partner in Stargate for CPU/architecture components.
• Cisco:  Networking partner for Stargate data centers.

The Big Picture

OpenAI’s evolution reflects a broader reality of modern AI, where progress is no longer driven by models alone. It is driven by compute, energy, and infrastructure. OpenAI’s shift from a non-profit lab to a PBC is a response to that reality.

In short, OpenAI didn’t abandon its mission—it rebuilt its structure to afford it.