What the OpenAI Restructuring Means

OpenAI on Tuesday completed a yearlong restructuring that will allow it to one day go public, when it could raise tens of billions of dollars to help fund its costly artificial intelligence.

The company will continue to be effectively controlled by a nonprofit board of directors, although the restructuring has converted the investments made by OpenAI’s various backers into regular equity. That gives financial backers including Microsoft, the biggest shareholder, as well as OpenAI CEO Sam Altman a lot to celebrate.