OpenAI Foundation commits $250M to AI impact program

The OpenAI Foundation, the nonprofit arm of the artificial intelligence company OpenAI, announced Wednesday that it will commit an initial $250 million to a new program aimed at addressing the economic impact of AI. The funding will be directed toward grants, partnerships, and direct work to support workers and communities facing disruption and to design frameworks for long-term economic security.

The program focuses on three areas: independent research to measure and forecast AI's effects on employment and wages; direct support for workers and communities during near-term disruption; and the development of new frameworks for broadly sharing AI's economic gains. The foundation said it is hiring a team and expects to begin making grants within a few months, with the first initiatives announced later this year.

This marks one of the foundation's first major initiatives since its separation from OpenAI's commercial business last year as part of a corporate restructuring. The nonprofit now holds a 26 percent stake in OpenAI's for-profit arm, a stake valued within a company valuation exceeding $800 billion. OpenAI co-founder Sam Altman sits on the boards of both entities.