The typical trajectory followed by successful tech founders often follows a certain pattern. It begins with establishing a company and retaining full ownership. As the business progresses, significant portions are sold to venture investors, resulting in the founder becoming a minority owner. Eventually, the company goes public, and additional stocks are sold over time.

However, Dustin Moskovitz, well-known as a co-founder of Facebook, took a different approach with Asana. In 2008, he founded Asana with the goal of enhancing collaboration in the workplace through software. When the company went public in 2020 through a direct listing, Moskovitz’s ownership had reached approximately 36%, deviating from the typical playbook.

Afterward, he embarked on an extensive acquisition spree. After acquiring 480,000 Asana shares in June, Moskovitz’s ownership surged to a staggering 111.4 million shares, constituting more than 51% of the total outstanding stock. In March, Asana revealed that Moskovitz had devised a trading plan to potentially purchase an additional 30 million Class A shares throughout the year, leading to a remarkable 19% increase in the stock’s value the following day.

Reflecting on these events, Moskovitz remarked, “The market has been quite tumultuous over the past two years, presenting some intriguing investment opportunities.” Despite experiencing a remarkable 66% surge in value this year, Asana shares still remain more than 80% below their previous peak reached in late 2021.

For Moskovitz, whose net worth exceeds $12 billion, primarily stemming from his early involvement with Facebook (now Meta), his quest to become the majority owner of Asana is not driven by a desire for control. Instead, he views it as an optimal investment strategy to further support his philanthropic endeavors.

Moskovitz’s Philanthropic Commitment

In 2010, Moskovitz made a commitment by signing the Giving Pledge, a commitment undertaken by some of the world’s wealthiest individuals to donate the majority of their wealth to charitable causes. Moskovitz and his wife, former journalist Cari Tuna, allocate their resources through Good Ventures, relying on recommendations from Open Philanthropy.

In terms of allocating his wealth, nothing holds a higher priority for Moskovitz than the fate of artificial intelligence.

Back in 2017, well before generative AI or ChatGPT had become commonly known, Good Ventures made a series of donations totaling $30 million to the startup OpenAI. At that time, OpenAI operated as a nonprofit organization, and Open Philanthropy expressed its intention “to contribute to OpenAI’s efforts in addressing safety and governance concerns.” Presently, OpenAI’s valuation stands at approximately $30 billion.

Among the 10 focal areas highlighted on the Open Philanthropy website, one centers on the “potential risks from advanced AI.” Open Philanthropy recommended a grant of $5 million to the National Science Foundation to support research in developing methods to ensure the safety of artificial intelligence systems. Additionally, they allocated $5.56 million to the University of California at Berkeley to establish an academic center specifically dedicated to AI safety. In total, Open Philanthropy states that it has contributed over $300 million to this particular focus area through more than 170 grants.

Moskovitz expressed his firm belief in the substantial risk associated with advanced AI, something that occupies a significant portion of his thoughts and attention. In 2004, Moskovitz joined forces with Mark Zuckerberg, Chris Hughes, and Eduardo Saverin to establish Facebook while they were students at Harvard University. Following Facebook’s initial public offering in 2012, Moskovitz attained billionaire status, holding a greater number of shares than any other individual apart from Zuckerberg.

Alongside the Intersection of OpenAI and Asana

Despite acquiring additional Asana shares in 2022 and 2023, Moskovitz’s ownership currently amounts to approximately $2.6 billion, which is lower than the $4.6 billion worth of Facebook stock he possesses, as reported by FactSet.

“I find myself in a distinct position where I started with an established source of wealth,” Moskovitz commented. “Hence, even though some purchases may appear substantial, they represent a relatively typical proportion of my overall net worth compared to other founders.”

Moskovitz has committed to refraining from purchasing all the outstanding shares of Asana or obtaining ownership exceeding 90% of the common stock. Furthermore, he will ensure that a majority of the company’s directors maintain their independence, adhering to the regulations set forth by the New York Stock Exchange, as outlined in a filing.

Moskovitz chose not to address whether his acquisition of shares was motivated by a desire to ward off activist investors who might attempt to instigate changes. Notably, the cloud software sector has witnessed increased activity from activists, with Salesforce being a prominent example. In response to such pressure, Salesforce expanded its buyback program and focused on enhancing profitability. In a recent turn of events, Moskovitz found his various endeavors merging together.

OpenAI swiftly transitioned from a niche startup to a sensation in the technology industry following the release of ChatGPT in November. Prior to that, Moskovitz had been experimenting with OpenAI’s DALL-E technology, which enables text-to-image conversion. In April of the previous year, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman facilitated Moskovitz’s access to a “labs account.”

Asana’s Advancements in Generative AI

After the launch of ChatGPT, Moskovitz indulged in some lighthearted amusement by engaging the chatbot and soliciting its input on objectives to address California’s housing issue.

Simultaneously, Asana joined the wave of companies unveiling advancements in their products, incorporating generative AI capabilities capable of generating text, images, or audio based on human input. Asana recently disclosed that it granted select clients access to various generative AI features driven by OpenAI’s models.

“Chat represents just one approach to leveraging these technologies,” Moskovitz explained. “When integrating them into workflows such as work management, they prove valuable in optimizing automation workflows and aiding decision-making. You can actively pose questions to the system, and it will provide you with a summary along with recommendations.”

According to Moskovitz, the true potential of the technology emerges when it tackles more complex tasks, such as introducing structure into projects. He emphasized that it surpasses mere specific question-answering capabilities. Instead, its strength lies in its ability to take in a multitude of information and a loosely defined objective, and then generate something that aligns approximately with the desired direction.

Moskovitz revealed that Asana is prepared to allocate $5 million or potentially more towards OpenAI’s technology in the coming year. He expressed great admiration for GPT-3, OpenAI’s previous large language model, and went on to mention his even greater astonishment with GPT-4, which was officially unveiled in March.

Moskovitz’s Focus on AI Strategy

During Asana’s 51-minute earnings call in early June, Moskovitz dedicated six minutes to highlighting the company’s AI strategy. In doing so, he employed the acronym “AI” a total of 41 times. This surpasses the 32 references made by Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella regarding AI on Microsoft’s earnings call in April. Notably, Microsoft serves as OpenAI’s primary investor.

Moskovitz expressed a strong personal connection to the leading AI labs, emphasizing Asana’s close ties and involvement with the forefront of AI research and development.

The connections between these entities are indeed extensive. As early as 2016, Altman made investments in Asana. During the earnings call, Moskovitz highlighted the fact that Asana and OpenAI have a shared board member in Adam D’Angelo, who previously served as Facebook’s technology chief and later founded the online Q&A platform Quora.

In 2021, Moskovitz made investments in Anthropic, an AI startup. During the same year, he also co-invested with Altman in Helion, a startup focused on nuclear fusion. Similar to Altman, Moskovitz possesses a deep enthusiasm for AI while concurrently expressing concerns about the potential harm it may cause.

In May, Moskovitz joined a group of entrepreneurs who endorsed a statement declaring that “addressing the risk of AI-induced extinction should be a global priority, on par with other significant societal-scale risks such as pandemics and nuclear war.” This statement originated from the Center for AI Safety, a nonprofit organization.

AI Safety and Collaboration with Elon Musk

However, Moskovitz did not add his name to the list of signatories for the open letter published by the nonprofit Future of Life Institute in March. This letter urged AI labs to pause the training of the most advanced AI models for a period of at least six months. Notably, the letter counted Tesla CEO Elon Musk among its prominent signatories. Musk, an early supporter of OpenAI, has consistently expressed deep concerns about advanced AI, considering it a greater risk to society than cars, planes, or medicine.

Moskovitz acknowledged that Musk’s concerns are not entirely exaggerated and that both of them share the objective of introducing this technology to the world in a safe manner.

“Elon approaches the subject from various perspectives,” he noted. “While we both recognize the potential existential risks associated with AI, our views may differ when it comes to AI censorship and ideological concepts like wokeism.”

In December, Musk expressed his apprehension about the perils of training AI to conform to woke ideologies, stating that it could have deadly consequences. Moskovitz has actively contributed to the formulation of a comprehensive list consisting of 12 potential policy modifications for consideration by U.S. lawmakers.

Moskovitz expressed his primary focus on ensuring that advanced iterations such as GPT-5 and GPT-6 undergo comprehensive safety evaluations prior to their release. He emphasized that achieving this goal would necessitate regulatory measures to coordinate the actions of all relevant stakeholders. In fact, he even coined a term in a tweet last month to encapsulate his intricate perspectives.