OpenAI claims that while Sam owned the OpenAI Startup Fund, there was “no personal investment or financial interest from Sam”.
In February 2024, OpenAI said: “We wanted to get started quickly and the easiest way to do that due to our structure was to put it in Sam’s name. We have always intended for this to be temporary.”
In April 2024 it was announced that Sam no longer owns the fund.
On (1): it’s very unclear how ownership could be compatible with no financial interest.
Maaaaaybe (2) explains it. That is: while ownership does legally entail financial interest, it was agreed that this was only a pragmatic stopgap measure, such that in practice Sam had no financial interest.
Obvious flag that this still seems very sketchy. “the easiest way to do that due to our structure was to put it in Sam’s name”? Given all the red flags that this drew, both publicly and within the board, it seems hard for me to believe that this was done solely “to make things go quickly and smoothly.”
I remember Sam Bankman-Fried used a similar argument around registering Alameda—in that case, I believe it later led to him later having a lot more power because of it.
For context:
OpenAI claims that while Sam owned the OpenAI Startup Fund, there was “no personal investment or financial interest from Sam”.
In February 2024, OpenAI said: “We wanted to get started quickly and the easiest way to do that due to our structure was to put it in Sam’s name. We have always intended for this to be temporary.”
In April 2024 it was announced that Sam no longer owns the fund.
On (1): it’s very unclear how ownership could be compatible with no financial interest.
Maaaaaybe (2) explains it. That is: while ownership does legally entail financial interest, it was agreed that this was only a pragmatic stopgap measure, such that in practice Sam had no financial interest.
Thanks for the context!
Obvious flag that this still seems very sketchy. “the easiest way to do that due to our structure was to put it in Sam’s name”? Given all the red flags that this drew, both publicly and within the board, it seems hard for me to believe that this was done solely “to make things go quickly and smoothly.”
I remember Sam Bankman-Fried used a similar argument around registering Alameda—in that case, I believe it later led to him later having a lot more power because of it.