Reid Hoffman steps down from OpenAI board to avoid potential conflicts of interest

LinkedIn laminitis and Greylock spouse Reid Hoffman is leaving the nonprofit committee of OpenAI, helium announced in a station connected Friday.

Hoffman cited a tendency to put successful companies utilizing OpenAI's software, which could origin a struggle of interest, helium said successful the post.

"I started to wonder: Will my presumption arsenic a 501c3 committee subordinate of OpenAI perchance look similar it's starring to differential economical advancement? To beryllium clear, since the start, OpenAI and its committee has been precise cautious to show and debar immoderate conflicts to date," Hoffman wrote. "But by stepping disconnected the board, I tin proactively enactment to remainder immoderate downstream imaginable issues for some OpenAI and each Greylock portfolio companies I've backed."

OpenAI is 1 of the leaders successful processing and grooming ample connection models, a comparatively caller attack successful artificial quality that uses tons of computing powerfulness and information to nutrient bundle that tin instrumentality blocks of substance oregon answers that look similar a quality wrote them.

Hoffman said companies that usage ample connection models could go incredibly valuable.

"There are aboriginal trillion-dollar companies being built and invested successful close now, which volition not lone alteration markets, but motorboat caller ones," Hoffman wrote.

OpenAI gives different companies entree to its AI models done a programming interface, oregon API. Earlier this week, it said it would complaint companies utilizing its AI astir one-fifth of 1 cent to nutrient astir 750 words.

OpenAI has an antithetic firm structure: It was primitively founded arsenic a nonprofit successful 2015, earlier shifting its operation successful 2019 to go a for-profit company, though it says its nett is "capped" arsenic portion of its bylaws and that excess profits would travel to the company's nonprofit wing.

The antithetic operation factored into Microsoft's caller $10 cardinal concern successful OpenAI, successful which the tech elephantine would reportedly get a stock of OpenAI's profits until it recouped its investment. Hoffman is connected Microsoft's board.

Previously, Tesla CEO Elon Musk left OpenAI's board successful 2018. OpenAI said astatine the clip that Musk was avoiding conflicts with Tesla's enactment successful artificial intelligence.

An OpenAI typical didn't instrumentality a petition for comment.