Polygraph

OpenAI was formed to ensure that AI is developed in a way that benefits humanity.

Posted by On with Kara Swisher, Checked

Polygraph verdictTrue
Sources
4 support2 context
Said
1 time·
Confidence
85%
On with Kara SwisherAug 10, 2026
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64 claimsThe check →

Multiple sources confirm OpenAI was founded in 2015 with a mission of developing AI to benefit humanity, so the core of the claim holds. The claim is a faithful paraphrase of the passage, and the sources do not contradict it.

The host relays this claim without endorsing it. It counts as passed on, not against the post.

What was said

… I remember, as you finally got in more human, ah, in 2015, it was just emerging. The technology was really, and I wrote about it, and I said, look, I don't know, um, it's just emerging. I'm not an expert. It's laughable now, in retrospect. This is what I wrote, I'm not quoting, but something like this: Well, I'm not the ex, I don't know where this technology is going. It's certainly going to have a huge impact, but the good news is that some of the smartest people on the planet who really know about this have gotten together and formed an institute called Open AI, which will make sure that AI is developed in a way that benefits humanity. And Elon and all these, so look what happened there. I think that they bear the greatest responsibility. I think that on data centers, remember the data centers? …
On with Kara Swisher · · from the transcriptPost →

What we found

Supports. Reuters reports that Musk and Altman co-founded OpenAI in 2015 with a goal of developing AI to benefit humanity.[1]

Supports. AP reports that OpenAI's mission statement at its creation as a nonprofit was for the benefit of humanity, not constrained by the need for financial enrichment.[2]

Supports. Britannica states OpenAI was founded in December 2015 as a nonprofit, and that its founding goal was to create artificial general intelligence that benefits humanity.[3]

Supports. Wikipedia's account of OpenAI's founding quotes the organization saying AI should be broadly distributed and that it is important to have a leading research institution to benefit society.[4]

Context. Later sources (2025 and 2026) show OpenAI's mission wording changed, dropping 'safely' and 'unconstrained' language. This does not affect the claim, which concerns the founding purpose.[5][6]

Sources

6 sources: 2 fact-checkers, 4 not rated

  1. 1Elon Musk says OpenAI was his idea, before executives ...reuters.com · fact-checker · cited for: supports
  2. 2Elon Musk takes stand in trial vs. Sam Altman ...apnews.com · fact-checker · cited for: supports
  3. 3OpenAI | ChatGPT, Sam Altman, & Microsoft - Britannicabritannica.com · not rated · cited for: supports
  4. 4OpenAI - Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org · not rated · cited for: supports
  5. 5Evolving OpenAI's structureopenai.com · not rated · cited for: context
  6. 6OpenAI has deleted the word ‘safely' from its mission – and its new structure is a test for whether AI serves society or shareholdersnhregister.com · not rated · cited for: context

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