Don't Worry About the Vase Podcast OpenAI Moves To Complete Potentially The Largest Theft In Human History
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Oct 31, 2025 Delve into OpenAI's controversial recapitalization, viewed by some as a colossal transfer of public value to private investors. Explore the nonprofit's remaining equity and the questionable necessity of removing profit caps. Discover the dynamics of OpenAI's partnership with Microsoft, including revised deal terms and potential trade-offs. Concerns about mission drift loom large as the nonprofit outlines ambitious spending plans. Legal challenges add to the intrigue, leaving listeners questioning the future of governance and control.
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Recapitalization As A Massive Value Transfer
- Zvi Moshowitz argues OpenAI's recapitalization transfers massive public value to private investors, calling it a potential historic theft.
- He stresses this shift reverses earlier promises that surplus value would be returned to the world.
Profit Caps Versus Private Upside
- The old profit cap would have limited investor gains and funneled most upside to the nonprofit under prior plans.
- Removing that cap hands private investors a disproportionate share of future astronomical value.
AGI Valuations Change Who Gets The Future
- Extreme valuations for AGI (trillions or more) were floated by economists and OpenAI messaging as plausible futures.
- If those futures occurred, shifting profit rights drastically changes who captures almost all economic surplus.