Sam Altman once invested in OpenAI through Sequoia

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman appeared before Congress in 2023 to testify about the dangers of AI. He told American lawmakers at the time that has no equity in OpenAIwhich he has said many times, saying that he only runs the company because he loves it.

However, Altman recently said that he had invested in OpenAI through the Sequoia fund at one point, the price of which he sold. In interview with Bari Weiss released Thursday, Altman was asked what role he might play if OpenAI turns into a for-profit company.

This is what the CEO of OpenAI said:

I have a small amount of money from the old YC fund – I had some money through the Sequoia fund but that made it easier for me to sell and not keep the property – so I have very little money that is very small. for me. In terms of what I will or won’t have moving forward, I don’t know. There is no current plan or promise to get anything.

While Altman’s investment through Y Combinator is well known, his investment through Sequoia was not. OpenAI reveals what Altman did in his company through YC on his website. The founders say that the “small amount” is the CEO’s “only interest” in the company and was made before he worked full-time at OpenAI.

Sequoia made its first investment in OpenAI in 2021, according to his pagetwo years later Altman became the CEO of OpenAI. At the time, OpenAI was valued at about $14 billion, a value that has exploded $ 157 billion after the start of the latest investment earlier this year – The surrounding Sequoia also took part.

Although Sequoia’s share in OpenAI starting in 2021 is very important now, there is much that is not known about Altman’s investment through the company. Companies like Sequoia are not required to disclose their minority shareholders. It is not known when Altman sold the stock or for how much.

An OpenAI spokesperson confirmed Altman’s appearance in a statement to TechCrunch, but did not comment on the details.

“Sam never had any direct ownership in OpenAI. He had a small stake, a few percent, in Sequoia’s multi-investment fund, which he later learned included limited exposure to OpenAI,” said OpenAI spokeswoman Kayla Wood. in a statement to TechCrunch. “Sam doesn’t have any promises to bag anymore.”

Most CEOs have ownership in the companies they run. A large part of the CEO’s salary if he is running a public company is equity. And of course, the founders start their journey with all the money in their companies, until they issue shares to the employees and sell the money to the investors. But OpenAI was founded as a non-profit, it has an unusual structure, and Altman has repeatedly said that he does not own it. This month, Altman said he was unfair to OpenAI at this point The New York Times’ DealBook Summit.

During the interview in May with a All In a podcastThe CEO of OpenAI said that he decided not to participate in the company because of his company. According to his agreementOpenAI’s non-profit board is supposed to be filled with mostly independent directors, meaning they can’t have equity in the company. Altman says that this led him to not take justice, to become one of the independent directors. However, this has led many to question the CEO’s intentions at the company, Altman said, which may be one reason the company is parting ways.

Altman’s role in OpenAI has become as important as the company itself he tries to change his for-profit branchwhich is currently run by a non-profit organization, becoming an independent company. OpenAI says it is reconsidering giving the CEO some money in this change, even the company and Altman denied that there are intentions.

The benefits of OpenAI are: he is currently in danger of being caught in the Elon Musk lawsuit against the beginning. At its core, Musk’s lawsuit alleges that OpenAI is abandoning its original nonprofit project to make the fruits of its AI research available to all. However, OpenAI did so recently Musk wanted to turn startups into profits from the beginning.

At one point in Altman and Weiss’ interview, the CEO of OpenAI called Elon Musk a “troublemaker” who “likes to fight.” At one point, Altman criticized Meta for asking California’s attorney general to block OpenAI’s for-profit reform.

“I don’t know why Meta sent the letter, but I know they know that’s not how it works. I know this side has bad faith,” Altman said. “You can think of many other reasons why Meta might have sent this letter. You can think that he wants to be liked by Elon, you can think that he feels like it will help them to compete with us.”

Although the company says that Altman’s exposure to OpenAI through Sequoia was unnecessary, it is difficult to compare what Altman said about unfairness in OpenAI with what he recently said on Weiss’ podcast.