OpenAI’s big reversal on its planned restructuring may replace one problem for another

Sam Altman and OpenAI did something unusual on Monday: They backed down.

The plan to spin out OpenAI, the $300 billion maker of ChatGPT, into an independent, for-profit company was scrapped.

To call the move an about-face is an understatement. OpenAI had been pursuing this corporate restructuring for more than a year, first quietly, and then—as details leaked—in the public eye.
The public arena brought lots of critics, from regulators and AI safety advocates to competitors—all...