OpenAI: Innovation or the Next Enron?

When a former Enron banker draws parallels between a 2000s fraud and AI’s biggest darling, it’s time to ask if we are blinded by the glow of innovation?

Benjamin Riley, a former investment banker involved in valuing Enron’s ill-fated NewPower Company, sees “intriguing” similarities with OpenAI. Despite a valuation of $157 billion, OpenAI shows no clear path to profitability while burning through funding.

Riley highlights the parallels: opaque corporate structures, mass leadership turnover, and aggressive hype surrounding future potential rather than present viability. OpenAI’s shift from nonprofit roots to a for-profit model via complex entities adds to the scrutiny.

Riley warns that unchecked faith in innovation mirrors the misplaced confidence that doomed Enron. Can we celebrate AI breakthroughs while demanding greater transparency and accountability from its leaders?

Read the full article on Futurism.

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