OpenAI began with a public-facing promise that set it apart from the large technology companies it said were developing powerful AI behind closed doors. Now, according to WIRED, one part of that promise has been withdrawn: public access to key internal documents tied to the nonprofit that still controls OpenAI’s activities and technology.
The shift matters because OpenAI is not just another AI company. Its original nonprofit organization and board remain central to decisions about a business whose products, structure, investors, and leadership have become subjects of intense public interest.
The promise OpenAI made
OpenAI was launched in 2015 by wealthy tech entrepreneurs including Elon Musk as a nonprofit research lab. Its founding message emphasized public involvement in the development of powerful AI, in contrast with companies such as Google.
That posture was reflected in the organization’s reports to US tax authorities. From its founding, those reports said any member of the public could review copies of OpenAI’s governing documents, financial statements, and conflict of interest rules.
For seven consecutive years, from its founding through 2022, OpenAI stated in annual IRS filings that those materials were available “upon request.” The documents covered more than routine paperwork. They included governance materials and internal rules that could help outsiders understand how the nonprofit board operates, how conflicts are handled, and how authority is distributed inside an unusual corporate structure.
What changed when WIRED asked
When WIRED requested those records last month, OpenAI said its policy had changed. The company provided only a narrow financial statement that WIRED said omitted the majority of its operations.
Company spokesperson Niko Felix told WIRED, “We provide financial statements when requested,” and added, “OpenAI aligns our practices with industry standards, and since 2022 that includes not publicly distributing additional internal documents.”
That statement marks a clear departure from what OpenAI had said in its earlier IRS filings. The company’s IRS filing for 2023, which would reflect the changed policy, was not due until later this year, according to WIRED.
WIRED also reported that after two days of waiting on OpenAI communications staff to fulfill an emailed request for governing documents, conflict rules, and financial statements, it went to OpenAI’s San Francisco headquarters on December 14. A receptionist said over an intercom that access would not be possible, then hung up and did not reengage.
Why governance records matter now
The document dispute comes after a leadership crisis that exposed how much power OpenAI’s nonprofit board can have over the company. In November, OpenAI’s board fired CEO Sam Altman, implying in a statement that he was untrustworthy and had endangered its mission to ensure AI “benefits all humanity.”
An employee and investor revolt soon forced the board to reinstate Altman and eject most of its own members. The new slate of directors vowed to review the crisis and enact structural changes to win back the trust of stakeholders.
Access to OpenAI’s conflict-of-interest policy could help explain what formal authority the new board has over Altman and his outside pursuits. WIRED reported that those outside interests include personal investments in numerous startups pursuing AI projects and a nuclear reactor maker.
WIRED also reported that in 2019, while Altman was at the helm, OpenAI signed a nonbinding letter of intent to buy $51 million of AI chips from Rain, a startup in which he has invested more than $1 million. OpenAI has not moved forward with a purchase. Felix said Altman is transparent with the board about his investments and follows a process for managing potential conflicts.
Governing documents could also show whether OpenAI revised its structure after Altman’s return. The company’s founding bylaws, publicly available through its 2016 application to the Internal Revenue Service for tax-exempt status, show how a fraction of the board could take control and push out Altman. OpenAI’s filings through 2022 reported that no “significant changes” had been made to its governing documents.
WIRED wrote that the company almost certainly made updates after Altman’s return to allow Microsoft to receive a nonvoting seat on the nonprofit board. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella had complained publicly that he was blindsided by Altman’s firing. Any additional changes made at that time remain secret.
The larger pattern of declining openness
OpenAI’s new document policy fits into a broader movement away from the openness that defined its early identity. WIRED reported that OpenAI once published extensive detail about its AI inventions, but more recently has guarded the technical details and data behind ChatGPT.
Felix said San Francisco-based OpenAI discloses all material required by the IRS and California’s attorney general. He also said the company regularly publishes information about its research and safety work while making research freely available through tools such as ChatGPT.
The decline in openness became especially notable in 2019, when the nonprofit created a for-profit subsidiary to house most of its AI development and attract outside investment. That structure allowed OpenAI to rely on Microsoft, one of the technology giants it was originally created to challenge, while also making its broader finances harder to see.
At a New York Times event in November, Elon Musk said his former company should be called Super-Closed-Source-for-Maxiumum-Profit-AI.
What the limited financial statement shows
Like all US nonprofits, OpenAI must publicly share its annual report to the IRS upon request and state in those submissions whether other documents, such as bylaws or conflict rules, were available to the public during the last year.
Some nonprofits publish those materials, including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which publishes its bylaws and rules on conflicts and workplace relationships. But Rick Cohen, chief operating and communications officer for National Council of Nonprofits, told WIRED, “It is not common for organizations to make their governing documents or internal policies public.”
US tax law requires nonprofits to make annual IRS reports, form 990s, available for public inspection at their offices the same day they are requested if the reports are not posted on the organization’s website. OpenAI does not post its reports on its website, and WIRED said the company did not provide them when asked in person.
IRS documentation says violators can face fines of $20 a day, up to $10,000, but the agency declined to comment about OpenAI, citing confidentiality provisions of tax law. OpenAI has not been accused of wrongdoing. Felix said OpenAI’s reports are available online through government and research databases.
The financial statement OpenAI did provide excluded the results of “affiliated entities,” including the for-profit unit that sells ChatGPT and other services, citing a desire to protect trade secrets. The 2022 statement showed $44,000 in revenue and $1.3 million in expenses for the nonprofit itself.
That may be accurate for the nonprofit, but it leaves the most important questions outside the frame: how the broader OpenAI operation is governed, how conflicts are reviewed, and what structural changes were made after one of the most consequential board fights in the AI industry.