Episode Details
Back to Episodes″$1 billion is not enough; OpenAI Foundation must start spending tens of billions each year” by Davidmanheim
Description
OpenAI is now a public benefit corporation, with a charter that demands they use AGI for the benefit of all, and do so safely. To justify this structure to the Attorneys General of Delaware and California, they split off the nonprofit OpenAI Foundation, and instead of full ownership, gave it 27% equity, worth well over $150 billion - what some have called the largest theft in human history. They also convened a commission to advise them on how to give away that money, and last year announced the first tranche of that giving, evidently funded with their equity.
This week, they announced a team, and an even larger commitment; giving "at least $1 billion" over the coming year; I argue everyone should agree that this is far too little.
The plan is to use their massive endowment, currently over $150 billion, for charity - though technically, it's not an endowment. Which is convenient, because if it was, they would need to give 5% of their assets every year, currently over $7 billion per year. But even that seems quite conservative, given the possible trajectory of their holdings.
It instead seems like there are three relevant possibilities:
- [...]
---
First published:
March 25th, 2026
---
Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.