The parties have not disclosed the details of the financial terms but stated that they are working to sign the final agreement soon. OpenAI plans to go public in the future in order to stabilize its rapidly growing revenues, make its governance structure more traditional, and finance its investments in artificial intelligence.
Under the previous agreement, Microsoft could sell OpenAI’s software only through the Azure cloud service. However, this year OpenAI signed a $300 billion long-term deal with Oracle for the “Stargate” data center project and also launched a new cloud partnership with Google. These steps stem from OpenAI’s desire to collaborate with other cloud providers as demand for artificial intelligence increases. Microsoft, meanwhile, wants to maintain access to OpenAI’s technologies even if the models reach human-level intelligence, since under the old contract such a development could have ended the partnership.
According to the agreement, OpenAI’s nonprofit arm will receive more than $100 billion worth of shares, representing about 20% of the company’s $500 billion valuation. This could turn the OpenAI Foundation into one of the world’s most powerful nonprofit organizations in terms of financial resources.
The company’s restructuring requires approval from the attorneys general of California and Delaware. This process is expected to be completed by the end of the year; otherwise, OpenAI risks losing investment opportunities worth billions of dollars.
