[danielrhodes]

No. OpenAI would not invest their operating capital in startups - that would be legally and fiscally irresponsible. Instead, a separate entity is created to manage the fund and OpenAI controls that entity. That fund then raises money from LPs specifically for investments. I would imagine some of the profits/carry will then flow back into the parent. What this ends up being though is mostly a branding exercise to boost OpenAI's developer ecosystem, with some upside for the company itself if they are able to fund some successful startups.

[ma2rten]

Keep in mind that the former president of YCombinator is the CEO of OpenAI. That might help explain a move like this. Also recently a lot of people left Open AI at the same time. There was some speculation that they are going to start a new startup. Maybe this is a way for OpenAI to be able to invest in them.