OpenAI does not have a stock symbol because it is not a publicly traded company.
OpenAI was established as a non-profit organization and later transitioned to a “capped-profit” model, where any financial surplus is used to benefit all of humanity.
This means that while OpenAI can and does enter into financial agreements and partnerships, it does not issue shares of stock for public purchase like a traditional corporation.
OpenAI as an Investment
Since OpenAI is not a publicly traded company, direct investment in the form of buying shares is not possible.
The organization does, however, receive funding from various sources.
In 2019, OpenAI entered into a strategic partnership with Microsoft, wherein Microsoft invested $1 billion.
This partnership was established to accelerate the development of AGI (Artificial General Intelligence).
Microsoft provides OpenAI with resources, including access to their Azure cloud infrastructure, to support OpenAI’s research and development initiatives.
Despite not being able to invest directly, interested parties can indirectly invest in OpenAI’s technology by investing in companies that have partnerships with OpenAI or that incorporate its technology (like Microsoft, which has made continued investments).
However, this should not be construed as investment advice.
Investment decisions should always be made based on thorough research and, if needed, consultation with a financial advisor.
Microsoft’s Investment in OpenAI
As previously mentioned, Microsoft made a significant investment in OpenAI.
In 2019, the tech giant committed $1 billion to OpenAI to help the organization further its research and development initiatives in artificial general intelligence.
As part of the agreement, OpenAI will use Microsoft’s Azure services for its computational needs.
Additionally, OpenAI will also license some of its pre-AGI technologies to Microsoft, which will then commercialize these technologies.
It made another $10 billion investment into OpenAI in 2023.
Founders of OpenAI
OpenAI was founded in December 2015 by Elon Musk, Sam Altman, Greg Brockman, Ilya Sutskever, John Schulman, and Wojciech Zaremba.
Elon Musk and Sam Altman were two of the more publicly recognized figures associated with the organization.
Elon Musk is a high-profile entrepreneur known for companies like SpaceX and Tesla. He has been an advocate for the responsible development of artificial intelligence.
Musk is known in the tech world for being able to generate a lot of attention and PR for a certain company or cause.
Musk, however, departed the company in 2018 long before ChatGPT became popular. This reportedly had to do with a conflict of interest over AI developments between open AI and Tesla.
Musk also reportedly tried to take over OpenAI in 2018, but was rejected by Altman and the board.
Sam Altman was the president of Y Combinator, a well-known startup accelerator, before becoming the CEO of OpenAI.
In March 2021, he stepped down as CEO but continued to serve as chairman.
Greg Brockman, previously the CTO of Stripe, is the CTO of OpenAI.
Ilya Sutskever, a former Google Brain team member, served as the founding CEO and chief scientist of OpenAI before stepping down in 2019.
Can I Invest in OpenAI?
You cannot directly invest in OpenAI because it is not a publicly traded company.
While OpenAI does secure funding from various sources, it does not offer public shares.
Is OpenAI a Publicly Traded Company?
No, OpenAI is not a publicly traded company.
While it does have financial agreements and partnerships, it does not offer shares for public purchase.
What Company Owns OpenAI?
OpenAI operates as an independent entity and is not owned by any single company.
While it has established significant partnerships, such as the one with Microsoft, these do not constitute ownership.
OpenAI’s mission is to ensure that artificial general intelligence (AGI) benefits all of humanity, and it operates with a high degree of autonomy to achieve this goal.
