US-based OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT, has effectively reversed course on a restructuring plan and said its nonprofit arm will remain in control.



OpenAI was founded in 2015 as a nonprofit research organization with the aim of building safe artificial intelligence. It has an unusual structure where the for-profit arm is controlled by the nonprofit.



Last December OpenAI announced plans to change it to allow a for-profit entity to run the business. It said the step would make it easier to raise the capital needed to develop AI.



But CEO Sam Altman said in a letter to employees on Monday, "We made the decision for the nonprofit to stay in control after hearing from civic leaders and having discussions with the offices of the Attorneys General of California and Delaware."



Altman also said, "OpenAI is not a normal company and never will be."



US media outlets say the move came after backlash from former employees and academics who oppose shifting control of the development of AI, which is said to surpass human intelligence, to a for-profit entity.



US media also point out that pressure from Elon Musk, co-founder of OpenAI, played a part.