Reid Hoffman steps down from OpenAI board to avoid potential conflicts of interest

Reid Hoffman, the co-founder of LinkedIn and a partner at Greylock, has announced that he is leaving the nonprofit board of OpenAI. In a post on Friday, Hoffman stated that he wants to invest in companies using OpenAI’s software, which could create a conflict of interest. He expressed concerns that his position on the board might appear to create differential economic advancement. OpenAI is known for its development and training of large language models in the field of artificial intelligence. Hoffman believes that companies utilizing such models could become incredibly valuable and lead to the creation of future trillion-dollar companies. OpenAI operates with an unusual corporate structure; originally established as a nonprofit in 2015, it transitioned to a for-profit entity in 2019 with capped profit and excess profits flowing to its nonprofit division. Microsoft recently invested $10 billion in OpenAI, and Hoffman serves on Microsoft’s board. Previously, Tesla CEO Elon Musk also left OpenAI’s board to avoid conflicts with Tesla’s AI work.