OpenAI is reportedly planning to abandon its nonprofit mission, with CEO Sam Altman reportedly in line to earn billions.

Please stop it. Please stop it. OpenAI's existence was based on its non-profit nature, as opposed to other companies that are chasing dollars via artificial intelligence. Wasn't it? Not anymore.

According to reports, OpenAI intends to completely restructure. The nonprofit mandate will be gone, as well as the control of a CEO and bloodsucking investors. Instead, a board will take over with a mission to do AI in a safe manner. The for-profit model is now fully implemented, with CEO Sam Altman reportedly taking on a large chunk of equity, and ultimately controlling the organisation.

The nonprofit organization will continue to exist. It will own a small minority stake in the for-profit structure and lose control.

These reports coincide with the official announcement of several notable departures from OpenAI. These include its CTO Mira Murati and its Chief Research Officer Bob McGrew. Reports imply that OpenAI's restructuring and these departures were not a coincidence. They are directly related.

OpenAI's non-profit purity was diluted a while ago when it set up a subsidiary for profit, which allowed large amounts of Microsoft cash to flow in to invest in scaling the project. AI chips are not cheap, as we all know.

If the move happens, it may put a different spin to the bizarre spectacle of Sam Altman being fired by the OpenAI Board, then rehired a few days later with a new board that was presumably pro Altman. It was a bit like the Soviet Politburo of the 1950s. However, careers were being hacked rather than lives.

It's worth re-reading OpenAI's mission statement, which was published on its website in 2015.

"OpenAI is an artificial intelligence research company that is non-profit. Our goal is to advance digital Intelligence in a way that will benefit humanity as a group, without being constrained by the need to generate a financial return. Our research is not bound by financial obligations so we can focus on positive human impact.

It's clear that a move to for-profit would be a major change. It would at least require a website clean-up. It wouldn't surprise me at all.

We've all been there before. Google's motto "Don't Be Evil" was eventually phased out as the company focused more on commercial concerns. It's not surprising that things move pretty quickly in general.

OpenAI will be able to impose whatever AI-based overlords they want on us, whether it is for profit, non-profit, or otherwise.