Elon Musk’s Legal Battle Against OpenAI

Elon Musk, the visionary entrepreneur who co-founded the artificial intelligence (AI) company, OpenAI, in 2015, has recently filed a lawsuit against the company. He alleges that OpenAI and its CEO, Sam Altman, have betrayed the company’s original mission. Musk contends that instead of developing AI systems for the benefit of humanity, the company has compromised its initial mission.

Details of the Lawsuit

In the lawsuit filed in a San Francisco court, Musk’s legal team argues that an alliance OpenAI formed with Microsoft, a multibillion-dollar deal, would violate the company’s commitment to make major AI advancements freely accessible to the public. They further claim that recent changes in OpenAI’s board of directors have essentially made it a subsidiary of Microsoft, hence violating the original contract.

This legal action by Musk intensifies the ongoing dispute between him, OpenAI, and his own AI company, xAI. OpenAI previously received a huge investment of $13 billion from Microsoft.

A Look at the Origins of OpenAI

Musk, who was instrumental in the establishment of OpenAI, claims in the lawsuit that he donated $44 million to the organization. He was assured, even in writing, that it would remain a non-profit entity. However, following disagreements with Altman over the direction of research, Musk left the company’s board of directors in 2018.

OpenAI garnered significant attention and success toward the end of 2022 when it announced that its ChatGPT chatbot, capable of creating convincing poems, essays, and even passing exams, would be made available. This success led to substantial investments in the field of AI.

When OpenAI’s board ousted CEO Sam Altman in November of the previous year, Musk offered him a job and support to any employees disgruntled by Altman’s forced “resignation”. Subsequently, Altman was reinstated, and several board members were replaced.

Musk’s Demand for Compensation

Musk now contends that OpenAI has essentially become a closed-source subsidiary of Microsoft, the world’s largest technology company. As a result, he is seeking compensation from the court, demands OpenAI’s leadership make their research publicly accessible, and wants a ban on them – or Microsoft – from profiting from the technology. According to Musk, OpenAI’s latest AI model, GPT4, violates the limit of artificial general intelligence (AGI). AGI refers to computers operating at a level equal to or greater than human intelligence.

The court will have to decide if GPT4 qualifies as AGI. Musk also revealed in the lawsuit that OpenAI is developing another model, Q*, which will be even more powerful and capable than GPT4. He reminded the court of OpenAI’s commitment in its founding agreement to make this technology public, stating that AI is a significant threat to humanity, potentially the greatest existential threat we face today.

xAI, Musk’s company, is a direct competitor of OpenAI and launched its first product, a chatbot called Grok, in December. Meanwhile, the alliance between Microsoft and OpenAI is under scrutiny by competition regulators in the US, EU, and UK. Microsoft’s President, Brad Smith, stated this week that while the companies are “very important partners,” “Microsoft does not control OpenAI.” The case now awaits a judicial decision.