OpenAI awards $40.5M to a wide range of nonprofits under new foundation structure

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OpenAI has awarded $40.5 million to more than 200 nonprofits in the first round of grants it has made since it rebranded its nonprofit as the OpenAI Foundation in October.

The foundation has committed $25 billion to fund health research and what it calls AI resilience, meaning ways to minimize the risks of these technologies. It hasn’t said how quickly it will grant out those funds.

OpenAI promised to grant out $50 million in July in response to the recommendations of an advisory commission they convened to offer feedback about how it should accomplish its mission of building safe artificial intelligence for the benefit of humanity. It said it would announce another $9.5 million in grants in the coming months based on recommendations from its board of directors.

The grant funding is unrestricted, meaning the nonprofits can use it however they choose. However, OpenAI asked groups to apply with projects that support AI literacy, strengthen civic life or foster economic opportunity. The awards were limited to nonprofits with an annual budget between $500,000 and $10 million.

OpenAI said more than 3,000 nonprofits applied for this first round of funding and said a group of outside advisers reviewed the applications with the board making final grant decisions. Few of the grantees are dedicated to technology. Instead, they include journalism organizations, dance companies and community organizations.

The Three Rivers Young People’s Orchestras based in Pittsburgh received $90,000, which is 10% of its annual budget this year. Executive director Lindsey Nova said she was shocked to have been chosen. Her organization already uses ChatGPT as an assistant and drafting tool, which she mentioned in her application.

“It’s here to stay. It’s not going anywhere, so we might as well do our best to to make sure that it’s a tool for good,” she said of AI technologies.

Her organization, which runs multiple kinds of youth orchestras, proposed to use the funds to research the possibility of developing two different apps. One would record rehearsals and add bookmarks when queued by the conductor. The goal would be to produce notes about what the conductor said during the rehearsal paired with the relevant clip of the rehearsal.

“That can’t replace the conductor. It can’t replace the kids learning how to play their instrument,” Nova said. “There’s nothing about the children’s experience that will be replaced by a robot, but they’ll have a better sense of what they need to work on between rehearsals.”

Her organization worked with Adam Hertzman, who runs Adartova, a small philanthropic consulting practice, to brainstorm ideas and apply for the grant. His wife is also on the organization's board.

Hertzman said he'd been jumping up and down to let his clients and network know about the grant opportunity from OpenAI because he thought few small and medium nonprofits had heard of the open call.

“Given the size of the potential grants, the simplicity of the application process and the fact that the grants are unrestricted, I would have expected more,” nonprofits to apply, he said.

OpenAI was formed as a nonprofit in 2015 but then incorporated a for-profit subsidiary that has grown to be one of the most valuable startups in the world.

For years, it had been trying to escape its nonprofit roots to make it easier to attract investors. In October, the company reached an agreement with regulators to formally reincorporate as a public benefit corporation, though the nonprofit board of directors remains the highest decision making body.

On Monday, the for-profit wing of OpenAI said issued a new call for applications for research proposals into AI and mental health that would mostly go to nonprofits. It said it would award $2 million by the middle of January to applicants. The company faces multiple lawsuits alleging that ChatGPT drove people to suicide or created harmful delusions in people with no prior mental health issues.

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