What is open about OpenAI? How does it differ from other “non-open” AI corps?

Just because it has "open" in the name doesn't mean much. It could only mean they want to "open the door" to unlocking AI.

It's just a business name, and arguably a misleading one.

I think it's that they intend to make AI into a product that can be sold, as compared to e.g. Google or other companies which develop AI internally but only use it to augment their existing portfolio of products.

I remember reading this article https://www.technologyreview.com/2020/02/17/844721/ai-openai... from 3 years back and wondered if the company behind ChatGPT was the "good" one created by former OpenAI employees whose members split to form a new company.

Nope - ChatGPT is from the original "bad" OpenAI despite the "Open" moniker.

The "good" one is this one - https://aibusiness.com/verticals/eleven-openai-employees-bre...

> What is open about OpenAI?

Your wallet!

People pattern match way too much on the name of the company. Does Google really have a googol pages in its index?

Their principles are stated fairly clearly, and to the extent that ‘Open’ is semantically meaningful, it's along the lines of ‘open benefit of AGI, rather than monopolized central control’, not ‘open source versions of present-day AI systems’.

> OpenAI’s mission is to ensure that artificial general intelligence (AGI)—by which we mean highly autonomous systems that outperform humans at most economically valuable work—benefits all of humanity. We will attempt to directly build safe and beneficial AGI, but will also consider our mission fulfilled if our work aids others to achieve this outcome.

and

> Our primary fiduciary duty is to humanity. We anticipate needing to marshal substantial resources to fulfill our mission, but will always diligently act to minimize conflicts of interest among our employees and stakeholders that could compromise broad benefit.

https://openai.com/charter/

Open (Source) is a cool marketing buzzword. Open makes your name sound like a standard or an alliance, not a greedy hyped startup. And trust factor is important in sales.

originally supposed to be open-source, non-profit.

It's just a name.