OpenAI awards $40.5M to a wide range of nonprofits under new foundation structure

OpenAI will award $40.5 million to more than 200 nonprofits before the end of the year, following an open call for applications in September.

This is the first wave of donations since the maker of ChatGPT rebranded its nonprofit as the OpenAI Foundation in October. The company has committed $25 billion to helping fund health research and what it calls AI resilience or ways to minimize the risks of these technologies. It hasn’t said how quickly it will grant out those funds.

OpenAI promised to grant out $50 million in July in response to the recommendations of an advisory commission they convened to offer feedback about how it should accomplish its mission of building safe artificial intelligence for the benefit of humanity.

It said it would announce another $9.5 million in grants in the coming months based on recommendations from its board of directors.

The grant funding is unrestricted, meaning the nonprofits can use it however they choose. However, OpenAI asked groups to apply with projects that support AI literacy, strengthen civic life or foster economic opportunity.

Few of the grantees are dedicated to technology. Instead, they include journalism organizations, dance companies and community organizations.

OpenAI was formed as a nonprofit in 2015 but then incorporated a for-profit subsidiary that has grown to be one of the most valuable startups in the world.

For years, it had been trying to escape its nonprofit roots to make it easier to attract investors. In October, the company reached an agreement with regulators to formally reincorporate as a public benefit corporation, though the nonprofit board of directors remains the highest decision making body.

OpenAI said more than 3,000 applications applied for this first round of funding and said a group of advisors reviewed the application process.

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