The Reuters report cited anonymous sources familiar with the matter. Those sources said the current nonprofit will hold a minority stake in the new for-profit company. A venture capitalist told BI the new structure could pave the way for an eventual IPO.

The company has so far been controlled by the nonprofit’s board of directors – a relic from when it was founded as a nonprofit in 2015. Details of the new structure are still being worked out, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

The new corporate structure means Altman could receive a stake in OpenAI. Sources told Reuters the company wants to remove a cap on investor returns.

OpenAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider, but a spokesperson told Reuters: “We remain focused on building AI that benefits everyone, and we are working with our board to ensure we are best positioned to successfully deliver on our mission. The nonprofit is core to our mission and will continue to exist.”

The possible changes follow a turbulent year for the company’s leadership. Last November, Altman was briefly and ultimately unsuccessfully fired by the board for “not being consistently open in his communications,” it said, without giving details. Several board members at the time questioned Altman’s approach to developing artificial intelligence and called for Altman to proceed more cautiously.

Since then, several high-profile researchers have left the company, raising similar concerns about its aggressive approach to AI development. Chief scientist Ilya Sutskever and head of direction Jan Leike left in May. Last month, President Greg Brockman announced he would take a sabbatical until the end of the year. On Wednesday, Chief Technology Officer Mira Murati also announced her resignation, saying she wanted to “create time and space to do my own thinking.”

One AI investor told Business Insider that the potential changes in the company’s structure could pave the way for an IPO – but in the meantime, he stressed what a turbulent company the company has been.

“OpenAI is both the most fascinating and terrifying company of our time,” Matt Turck, a partner at venture capital firm FirstMark who has invested in AI companies such as Dataiku, Synthesia and Ada, told Business Insider via text message. “By that I mean it’s doing incredibly important work and building some of the most impressive products ever – and yet it constantly seems to be on the brink of implosion.”

However, he believes Altman’s potential payout is good for the company. “It feels like part of the necessary normalization of OpenAI into a regular corporate structure that paves the way for an IPO.”