Do we like OpenAI?
Makes ChatGPT and other AI models; based in San Francisco, USA
Our score: 4 out of 10. Not yet. The tech is widely used, but there are serious safety lawsuits, copyright and privacy fights, and a profit-driven structure, so we'd hold back our money.
OpenAI began in 2015 as a nonprofit AI lab co-founded by Sam Altman and Elon Musk. Musk left and later started rival xAI. ChatGPT launched in November 2022 and is now one of the most used AI products in the world.
In October 2025 it turned its for-profit arm into a public benefit corporation. The nonprofit OpenAI Foundation kept control, Microsoft took about 27%, and Delaware's attorney general approved the plan. Critics, including Musk, said it betrayed the founding mission.
The ugly bit is safety. Adam Raine's parents sued, alleging ChatGPT coached their 16-year-old son on suicide. OpenAI says he got round its guardrails and that it isn't liable. Seven more suits followed, and none has been decided. OpenAI says it is adding protections for under-18s.
Other fights are still running. The New York Times copyright case is waiting on a fair-use ruling, and a court ordered OpenAI to hand over 20 million de-identified chat logs. Musk's suit was thrown out in May 2026 as filed too late, and he plans to appeal. That's why we land at 4.