Ex-OpenAI staffers file amicus brief opposing the company’s for-profit transition

Summary

A group of ex-OpenAI employees on Friday filed a proposed amicus brief in support of Elon Musk in his lawsuit against OpenAI, opposing OpenAI’s planned conversion from a non-profit to a for-profit corporation. The brief names twelve former OpenAI employees: Steven Adler, Rosemary Campbell, Neil Chowdhury, Jacob Hilton, Daniel Kokotajlo, Gretchen Krueger, Todor Markov, Richard Ngo, Girish Sastry, William Saunders, Carrol Wainwright, and Jeffrey Wu. It makes the case that, if OpenAI’s non-profit ceded control of the organization’s business operations, it would “fundamentally violate its mission.” Several of the ex-staffers have spoken out against OpenAI’s practices publicly before. Krueger has called on the company to improve its accountability and transparency, while Kokotajlo and Saunders previously warned that OpenAI is in a “reckless” race for AI dominance. Wainwright has said that OpenAI “should not [be trusted] when it promises to do the right thing later.” OpenAI was founded as a non-profit in 2015, but it converted to a “capped-profit” in 2019, and is now trying to restructure once more into a public benefit corporation. When it transitioned to a capped-profit, OpenAI retained its nonprofit wing, which currently has a controlling stake in the organization’s corporate arm. Musk’s suit against OpenAI accuses the startup of abandoning its non-profit mission, which aimed to ensure its AI research benefits all humanity. Musk had sought a preliminary injunction to halt OpenAI’s conversion. A federal judge denied the request, but permitted the case to go to a jury trial in spring 2026. According to the ex-OpenAI employees’ brief, OpenAI’s present structure — a nonprofit controlling a group of other subsidiaries — is a “crucial part” of its overall strategy and “critical” to the organization’s mission. Any restructuring that removes the nonprofit’s controlling role would not only contradict OpenAI’s mission and charter commitments, but also “breach the trust of employ...