OpenAI Reverses For-profit Plans💸!

Also: Figma rolls out AI tools for web, app, and marketing design, while Meta’s new AI glasses could have facial recognition 👀.

Author

The Neural Frontier
May 09, 2025

Source: ChatGPT Image Generator

Well, we definitely didn’t see that headline coming 🫨! 

Hola, and welcome to issue #105 of the Neural Frontier. We’re super glad to have you back as we dive into the happenings of the week. 

From OpenAI’s shocking reversal to Figma’s big announcements, there’s a lot to dissect. As always, we’ve got you covered with a bite-sized rundown. 

Shall we? 😉

In a rush? Here's your quick byte: 

💸 OpenAI reverses for-profit plans!

🚀 Figma rolls out AI tools for web, app, and marketing design. 

👓 Meta’s new AI glasses could have facial recognition! 

🎭 AI Reimagines: Recess brought to life!

🎯 Everything else you missed this week.  

⚡ The Neural Frontier’s weekly spotlight: 3 AI tools making the rounds this week.

Source:  Thomas Fuller / SOPA Images / LightRocket / Getty Images

In a significant shift, OpenAI announced that its nonprofit arm will retain control over its business operations, reversing previous plans to convert fully into a for-profit entity. 

The decision follows intense scrutiny and engagement with regulatory bodies and public interest groups. 

Here’s what’s going on: 

🎯 What’s Changing (and What Isn’t):  OpenAI’s business operations, previously set to transition into a purely for-profit model, will instead become a Public Benefit Corporation (PBC). However, its nonprofit foundation will remain in control, serving as the major shareholder and maintaining oversight.

OpenAI emphasizes its nonprofit roots and states this oversight structure aligns best with the original mission to ensure AI benefits all humanity. The for-profit division will convert into a PBC, a structure that allows for profitability while legally committing to social responsibility and public benefit.

⚖️ Why the U-turn? Regulatory and Public Pressure: This reversal comes after strong public and legal opposition:

  • Legal challenges: Elon Musk, an early investor and OpenAI co-founder, led high-profile legal actions against OpenAI, accusing it of abandoning its original charitable mission.

  • Public and civic advocacy: Ex-OpenAI employees, nonprofits like Encode, California Teamsters, civil society groups, Nobel laureates, and law professors actively opposed the restructuring.

  • Attorney Generals' involvement: Intense dialogues with Attorneys General of California and Delaware influenced the reversal, addressing concerns over safeguarding charitable assets and mission integrity.

💰 Capital Structure and Future Implications: CEO Sam Altman outlined the financial future clearly, suggesting OpenAI’s ambitious vision might eventually require "trillions of dollars" to deliver universally accessible AI:

  • OpenAI’s nonprofit arm will gain significant shares in the PBC, ensuring continued mission oversight and financial transparency.

  • Transitioning to a more conventional stock structure, all stakeholders will hold shares, aligning incentives across employees, partners (like Microsoft), and newly appointed nonprofit commissioners.

While the immediate crisis seems resolved, the company still faces potential complexities, especially regarding the capital it previously raised under for-profit assumptions. The long-term impact on its partnership with Microsoft, ongoing litigation, and its ability to raise future funding remains to be seen.

Source: Figma

Figma has unveiled several new AI-powered features to streamline website and app prototyping, simplify bulk marketing asset creation, and enhance vector-based illustrations, signifying its deeper push into AI-driven digital design.

Here’s what you need to know: 

🌐 Figma Sites: AI-Powered Web Creation

Figma Sites allows designers to seamlessly transition from prototyping website designs to publishing full, responsive websites. It features: 

  • Easy Web Publishing: AI generates an initial site directly from Figma prototypes. Users can then freely edit elements through a collaborative editor, without needing constant prompting.

  • Interactive Features: Users can effortlessly add animations, transitions, and custom scroll effects, enhancing interactivity.

  • Built-in CMS: Upcoming CMS integration allows teams to directly generate and manage blog posts, including thumbnails and SEO slugs, from within the design environment.

  • Custom Code: AI assistance can generate code snippets for interactive elements (like stock tickers), or developers can insert their custom code directly.

💡 Figma Make: Rapid, AI-Assisted App Prototyping

Complementing Sites, Figma Make targets app ideation and interactive prototyping:

  • Prototype from Prompts: Users simply input prompts to instantly generate functional, interactive app prototypes.

  • Collaborative Edits: Entire teams can collaborate, request changes via prompts, or have developers directly edit the underlying code.

  • Reusable Components: Smaller interactive elements, like clocks or timers, can be embedded directly into websites built using Figma Sites.

📣 Figma Buzz: Accelerated Marketing Asset Creation

To streamline marketing workflows, Figma Buzz helps marketers produce brand-consistent assets quickly:

  • Template-Driven Design: Marketers use pre-made templates customized by designers for swift asset creation.

  • Bulk Asset Generation: Marketers can quickly create numerous branded assets by pulling data from spreadsheets.

  • AI-Enhanced Imagery: Users can insert AI-generated images or instantly modify asset backgrounds.

🖌️ Figma Draw: Advanced Vector Illustration

Figma’s new vector-editing tool brings powerful illustration capabilities natively into Figma, eliminating the need for external vector-editing apps:

  • Features include text-on-path, pattern fills, brushes, noise and texture effects, multi-vector editing, and intuitive lasso selections.

To make these features more accessible, Figma introduced the Content Seat, an affordable subscription starting at $8 per month. Subscribers gain access to:

  • Figma Buzz (marketing tools)

  • Figma Slides (presentations)

  • FigJam (collaborative boards)

  • Sites CMS (blog management)

Source: Meta  

Meta is reportedly creating two new smart glasses, internally codenamed Aperol and Bellini, featuring powerful new AI capabilities, including a sophisticated facial recognition mode described as "super-sensing."

Here’s the scoop:

🔍 What to Expect from Meta’s New AI Glasses: Meta’s "super-sensing" vision technology will allow the glasses to actively track and interpret your surroundings throughout the day. Key features include:

  • Facial Recognition: Glasses could identify people by name using advanced facial recognition technology.

  • Context-Aware Reminders: It can remind you to pick up your keys if you leave home without them or alert you to buy groceries based on recognizing your routine or location.

  • Always-On Tracking: Continuous operation of built-in cameras and sensors to enable real-time environmental understanding and assistance.

🔋 Battery Life Challenges: Early tests of this technology on existing smart glasses show significant battery limitations, providing only about 30 minutes of active AI functionality. Meta aims to significantly extend battery life, enabling hours of continuous usage in the final product. 

The company is also exploring integrating similar capabilities into camera-equipped earphones for broader applicability.

🚨 Privacy and Safety Considerations: Meta has reportedly revamped its internal privacy and safety review processes to streamline product releases, potentially accelerating the launch of these powerful yet privacy-sensitive features.

Source: u/dhbs90 via Reddit

We’re taking you back to the 90s with the reimagination of your favorite fourth graders from Third Street School 🏫. 

Yep, it’s Recess, and we’re taking you through the adventures of T.J., Ashley, Vince, Gus, Gretchen, and Mikey. Enjoy!

🎯 Everything else you missed this week. 

Source: Google 

⚡ The Neural Frontier’s weekly spotlight: 3 AI tools making the rounds this week. 

1. 🔍 Originality.ai is an AI detection tool that identifies AI-generated content with high precision, helping publishers and educators ensure content authenticity. 

2. 🎬 Descript is an AI-powered video editing platform that transforms text-based editing into professional videos with automated design, transitions, and studio-quality enhancements.

3. ✍️ Aithor helps create structured academic content with access to 10M+ research papers, automatic citations, and personalized drafting tools.

Wrapping up… 

OpenAI’s reversal still has us in awe, and the future implications, particularly around the funding raised under for-profit assumptions, remain to be seen.

While we await the wonders that would be created using Figma’s tools and the wide-scale applications of Meta’s technology, remember to keep an eye on that inbox 😉. 

As always, hit the Subscribe button if you haven’t already, and we’ll see you in the next one 😊!