The panel will focused on a vast range of issues arising from OpenAI’s status as a nonprofit, tax-exempt charitable corporation--from its complicated corporate structure to Elon Musk’s legal challenges against OpenAI for allegedly abandoning its charitable purpose. As OpenAI’s leadership is reportedly taking steps to transform the organization into a for-profit company, critical questions arise as to how to protect charitable interests in the face of overwhelming profit-making incentives. This session was relevant to students who are interested in the legal dimensions of OpenAI, whether it be the overlapping complexities of federal, state, and tax law, protecting the public from risky AI development, advancing the interests of the nonprofit sector, or all the above.

Rose Chan Loui is the Founding Executive Director of LMPN, and has extensive experience advising charitable organizations, nonprofit founders, and for-profit corporations throughout her legal career. Ellen P. Aprill is LMPN’s Senior Scholar in Residence, as well as the John E. Anderson Professor Emerita at LMU Loyola Law School. The two have authored several articles with Professor Jill Horowitz on OpenAI’s structure and protecting its charitable mission, with relevant publications in Tax Notes Federal, Bloomberg Law, the Columbia Law School Blue Sky Blog, and The Conversation. They have been quoted on this topic in the New York Times, PBS News, Yahoo Finance, and other news outlets, and Rose has been interviewed about OpenAI by CNBC and The 80,000 Hours Podcast.