OpenAI mission statement
OpenAI's mission is to ensure that artificial general intelligence (AGI) benefits all of humanity. Set out when the organization was founded in 2015, it commits OpenAI to developing safe, beneficial AI that serves people broadly rather than concentrated interests.
The mission guides OpenAI's research priorities, including alignment research, capability development and safety measures against harmful use, as well as its partnerships and deployment decisions. It is the basis for OpenAI's commitments to publish safety research, to collaborate with other institutions and to assist competitors if they come close to building AGI, and for offering access to its models through APIs and tools while keeping safety standards in place.
Until 2025 the mission was expressed through a "capped-profit" structure that limited investor returns. The restructuring completed on 28 October 2025 replaced it with OpenAI Group PBC, a public benefit corporation controlled by the non-profit OpenAI Foundation, whose charter obliges the board to weigh the mission alongside commercial interests.
Related terms
Related services: Agentic AI consulting.
Ready to put agentic AI to work?
Book a free 45-minute consultation. We'll map one real process worth automating with production-grade AI.