Elon Musk, the famed founder of companies such as Tesla and SpaceX, has filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, along with its co-founders Sam Altman and Greg Brockman, and their affiliated entities.
The lawsuit, which was filed on Thursday, alleges that OpenAI has violated its original contractual agreements by shifting its focus towards profits instead of its nonprofit mission to develop AI for the benefit of humanity. Musk, an early supporter of OpenAI, claims that Altman and Brockman convinced him to help found and fund the startup back in 2015, under the promise that it would serve as a countermeasure against Google’s competitive threat.
However, according to the lawsuit, OpenAI has now transitioned to a for-profit model with the aim of commercializing its advanced AI research, particularly with Microsoft, currently the world’s most valuable company.
But Musk argues that this shift in priorities is a clear betrayal of the “Founding Agreement” that was made when OpenAI was first established. He states that the organization is now essentially a “closed-source de facto subsidiary” of Microsoft, focused on developing and refining AI for the sole purpose of maximizing profits for the tech giant, rather than benefiting humanity.
This legal action comes after Musk has openly expressed his dissatisfaction with OpenAI’s change in direction over the past year. According to the lawsuit, Musk has donated over $44 million to the nonprofit between 2016 and September 2020, making him the largest contributor during the organization’s early years.
Despite his significant financial support, Musk has reportedly refused to accept a stake in the for-profit arm of OpenAI, citing ethical concerns.
The lawsuit, which was filed in a San Francisco court, centers around OpenAI’s latest natural language model, GPT-4. Musk argues that this model constitutes artificial general intelligence (AGI) – an AI system that is equivalent or even superior to human intelligence. He also claims that OpenAI and Microsoft have improperly licensed GPT-4, despite their initial agreement that any AGI capabilities developed by OpenAI would remain nonprofit and dedicated to serving humanity.
In addition to compelling OpenAI to uphold its original mission and prohibiting it from profiting off of its technologies, Musk is also seeking for the court to recognize the advanced AI models, including GPT-4, as artificial general intelligence that surpasses licensing agreements.
Furthermore, Musk is calling for the court to intervene and potentially order restitution of his donations if it finds that OpenAI has been using them for private gain rather than its intended purpose of public-minded research.
The lawsuit also highlights Altman’s hand-picking of a new board for OpenAI, which consisted of members with little experience in AI ethics and governance. Musk claims that this move was a conscious effort to remove individuals with technical expertise from the previous board.
This is an ongoing story, and we will continue to provide updates as they become available. Thank you for reading.
