New Report from Tech Watchdogs Exposes OpenAI's Troubled History as Company Seeks to Outgrow Its Nonprofit Origins

"The OpenAI Files" Documents Years of Broken Promises, Safety Compromises, and Leadership Concerns at the AI Giant as it Attempts to Restructure to a For-Profit

SAN FRANCISCO, CA, UNITED STATES, June 18, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- The Midas Project and The Tech Oversight Project today released "The OpenAI Files," an investigative report documenting the turbulent past decade at OpenAI as the organization has grown from an idealistic nonprofit into a tech giant racing to commercialize its technology.

The report documents hundreds of sources showing how the company's pursuit of a restructuring that would undercut its legal obligations to humanity represents the culmination of years of compromised values and broken promises.

When OpenAI was launched in 2015, its founders made it a nonprofit to ensure that artificial general intelligence (AGI) would benefit all of humanity.
This wasn’t just cheap talk — the commitment was baked into OpenAI’s founding documents. But 10 years later, with many hundreds of billions of dollars on the line, they’re trying to change the terms of the deal.

"OpenAI's nonprofit structure creates a fiduciary duty to humanity—a legal obligation to every reader of this report," said Tyler Johnston, Executive Director at The Midas Project. "Now that they are trying to restructure, each of us may be deprived of a slice of the future to which we were previously entitled."

The report reveals that OpenAI is pursuing a restructuring that could:

- Remove legal safeguards that currently require the company to prioritize public benefit over investor interests
- Eliminate profit caps that ensure excess value flows to humanity rather than private investors
- Transfer managerial control from a nonprofit board whose sole duties are to the public to a for-profit corporation with duties to shareholders

The investigation compiled evidence from over 200 sources, including public testimonies from dozens of ex-employees, describing:

- Efforts to silence criticism through restrictive NDA agreements and threats to vested equity
- Multiple failures to live up to past safety commitments
- A pattern of prioritizing product launches over responsible development
- Board members with significant potential conflicts of interest overseeing the restructuring decision

“OpenAI loves to virtue signal that its mission is for the betterment of humanity, but this research shows that Sam Altman has repeatedly lied to board members, engaged in self-dealing, and refused to invest in product safety. They’re putting lives at risk,” said Sacha Haworth, Executive Director of The Tech Oversight Project. “Lawmakers and regulators need to start treating OpenAI with the wariness they’ve developed for other Big Tech companies as they navigate the emerging world of overpromised artificial intelligence.”

The report calls for immediate action to preserve OpenAI's mission and repair its culture, including maintaining profit caps, putting its mission to humanity first, and implementing robust oversight mechanisms to uphold the company's past commitments.

The full report is available at www.openaifiles.org.

About The Midas Project and The Tech Oversight Project

The Midas Project and The Tech Oversight Project are independent research organizations dedicated to corporate accountability and public interest oversight of technology companies.

Tyler Johnston
The Midas Project
info@themidasproject.com
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