Let’s say you open a bakery. You’re known for one thing: the world’s best almond croissant. Suddenly, everyone on the planet wants one. Your ovens smoke, your flour runs out, and your staff mutters about unionizing. What do you do? Scale up - or risk becoming irrelevant. The OpenAI Paradox: How OpenAI’s Identity Crisis Reveals the Future of Technology This is the paradox facing OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, which recently announced it’s scrapping plans to become a traditional for-profit business. Instead, it’s doubling down on a hybrid model where a nonprofit parent organization will oversee a “public-benefit corporation” (PBC) - a structure designed to balance profit with purpose. But why? And why does this matter to you, the person sipping coffee and scrolling through memes? The Almond Croissant Problem: Why Can’t OpenAI Just “Make More AI”? Imagine if your favorite bakery had to handcraft each croissant individually, no matter how many people lined up. That’s OpenAI’s ...
