Why OpenAI and Anthropic Went For-Profit — and the Case for a New Nonprofit Lab
S_OhEigeartaigh · x · 2026-09-10
A discussion thread argues that OpenAI and Anthropic were forced into for-profit structures because they believed they couldn't marshal the massive capital needed to train giant models without selling equity.
But the situation is changing: after their IPOs, hundreds of billions of dollars of fresh capital will soon flow into the philanthropic market. That opens the possibility of a new nonprofit AI lab that could build AI the "right way," without the inherent conflicts of corporate interest — and in time could even displace OpenAI and Anthropic.
The original poster adds: this is literally how OpenAI came about, which in turn is how Anthropic came about.
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