OpenAI’s legal battle with Elon Musk reveals internal turmoil over avoiding AI ‘dictatorship’
A seven-year-old rivalry between tech leaders Elon Musk and Sam Altman over who should lead OpenAI and prevent an artificial intelligence “dictatorship” is now headed to a federal judge as Musk tries to halt the ChatGPT maker’s continued shift to to put a stop to a profitable business. company.
Musk, an early OpenAI investor and board member, has sued the artificial intelligence company earlier this year claiming that it had betrayed its original goals as a non-profit research laboratory that benefited the public interest rather than seeking profit.
Musk has since escalated the dispute, adding new claims and asking for an injunction that would stop it OpenAI’s plans to transform itself more fully into a for-profit enterprise.
The world’s richest man, whose companies include Tesla, SpaceX and social media platform X, started his own rival AI company, xAI, last year. Musk says it faces unfair competition from OpenAI and its close business partner Microsoft, which has provided the vast computing resources needed to build AI systems like ChatGPT.
“OpenAI and Microsoft jointly exploiting Musk’s donations so they can build a profit monopoly, a monopoly that now focuses specifically on xAI, is simply too much,” Musk says in his filing alleging that the companies violated the terms of Musk’s fundamental violating contributions to the charity.
OpenAI files a response Friday against Musk’s requested order, saying it would cripple OpenAI’s operations and mission to the benefit of Musk and his own AI company. A hearing is scheduled for January before U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers in Oakland.
At the heart of the dispute is a 2017 internal power struggle at the young startup, which led to Altman becoming OpenAI’s CEO.
Musk also wanted the job, according to emails revealed as part of the lawsuit, but became frustrated after two other OpenAI co-founders said he would have too much power as a major shareholder and CEO if the startup succeeded in its goal to reach. better than human AI known as artificial general intelligenceor AGI. Musk has long-expressed concerns about how advanced forms of AI can threaten humanity.
“The current structure provides you with a path where you ultimately gain unilateral absolute control over the AGI,” said a 2017 email to Musk from co-founders Ilya Sutskever and Greg Brockman. “You stated that you do not want to have control over the AGI. final AGI, but during these negotiations you have shown us that absolute control is extremely important to you.’
In the same email, titled “Honest Thoughts,” Sutskever and Brockman also expressed concerns about Altman’s desire to become CEO and whether he was motivated by “political goals.” Altman eventually succeeded in becoming CEO, and has remained so, except for a period last year when he was fired and then restored again days later after the board that ousted him was replaced.
OpenAI published the messages Friday in a blog post intended to show its side of the story, specifically Musk’s early support for the idea of turning OpenAI into a for-profit company so it could raise money for the hardware and computing power that AI needs.
It was Musk, through his asset manager Jared Birchall, who first launched ‘Open Artificial Technologies Technologies, Inc.’ in September 2017. registered as a public utility company. Then came the “Honest Thoughts” email, which Musk described as the “last straw.” ”
“Either do something yourself or continue with OpenAI as a non-profit organization,” Musk wrote back. OpenAI said Musk later proposed merging the startup with Tesla before stepping down as co-chairman of OpenAI’s board in early 2018.
Musk did not immediately respond to emailed requests for comment sent to his companies on Friday.
Asked about his troubled relationship with Musk at a New York Times conference last week, Altman said he felt “tremendously sad” but also characterized Musk’s legal battle as one over business competition.
“He’s a competitor and we’re doing well,” Altman said. He also said at the conference that he is “not so concerned” about the Tesla CEO’s influence on newly elected President Donald Trump. OpenAI said Friday that Altman plans to make a personal donation of $1 million to Trump’s inauguration fund, along with a number of technology companies and executives working to improve their relationships with the new administration.
——————————
The Associated Press and OpenAI have one license and technology agreement giving OpenAI access to some of the AP’s text archives.