Elon Musk has sued OpenAI and the chief executive officer of this startup, Sam Altman.
Mr. Musk claims that, in his opinion, the mentioned company, which developed the world’s most popular chatbot based on artificial intelligence called ChatGPT, violated the rules of the founding agreement on AI as part of its activities. According to the billionaire, the startup stopped following the original ideas of its existence when the commercial result became a higher priority goal in the corporate value system than the benefit to humanity.
Elon Musk participated in the investment of the developer of the world’s most popular AI-based chatbot in the early period of the company’s history. According to the billionaire, the startup’s active cooperation with Microsoft has become a factor of negative impact on value orientations. Mr. Musk insists that as OpenAI strengthened its interaction with the mentioned company, in terms of the specifics of its activities, it began to move away from the original mission of creating open-source technology that does not obey corporate interests.
The CEO of Tesla is one of those who in the public space talks about the threats associated with the widespread introduction of artificial intelligence. At the same time, his position concerned the prospects for the development of advanced technology do not contain semantic elements of radical alarmism and do not belong to the category of a retrograde worldview. Elon Musk is convinced that with a responsible approach, artificial intelligence will become a source of significant benefit and will be able to transform the process of human civilization’s livelihood in a positive sense. At the first AI Safety Summit, which took place in the United Kingdom in the fall of 2023, he stated that advanced technology could create the basis for an era of abundance. Mr. Musk believes that AI will be able to provide a high level of financial provision for all people in the future.
The billionaire’s lawsuit notes that the official OpenAI website still declares that the startup’s mission is to ensure that artificial general intelligence benefits all of humanity. Elon Musk says that this statement does not correspond to the real goals of the company in the current period of its existence. According to the billionaire, the startup de facto has become a subsidiary of Microsoft. The lawsuit also notes that the company creates products with closed-source code.
Elon Musk also commented on the events in the startup’s management that took place in the fall of 2023. In this case, it means the period when Sam Altman was removed from the post of CEO of the firm and soon reinstated to the appropriate position with support from Microsoft. The lawsuit, filed in court in San Francisco, notes that the technology giant, Sam Altman, and OpenAI president Greg Brockman joined forces to oust most of the startup’s board members who were responsible for fulfilling the initial mission focused on the benefit of humanity in the highest philanthropic sense.
The lawsuit alleges that Sam Altman has formed a new board team, whose representatives do not have the technical knowledge corresponding to the level of the previous group of specialists, or significant experience in governance artificial intelligence. Special attention is drawn to the fact that according to Elon Musk, the new board of directors consists of those who have more experience in business, for which commercial performance is the main goal of politics, than in the ethics and governance of AI. The lawsuit also notes that the mentioned startup representatives are big fans of Sam Altman.
Elon Musk’s claims, which were placed in the plane of legal regulation, may become one of the most high-profile proceedings in the artificial intelligence industry, which is at the stage of active development, but still continues to be an emerging environment. In this case, two, in a symbolic sense, AI preachers find themselves in a state of confrontation
The proceedings will likely have consequences not only for the startup, which is currently seeking to raise investment funds worth $100 million or more. In this case, Microsoft may become the party to which the legal practice of liability applies. Over the past year, the technology giant’s share price has shown significant growth, as it has managed to make a profit as a result of the introduction of artificial intelligence tools into digital services. In the lawsuit, Microsoft actually faces claims of canceling the startup’s move to fulfill a mission for the benefit of humanity. Claims have also been made against the tech giant about the excessive concentration of enormous power that has affected the ideologic basis of OpenAI’s activities.
Elon Musk’s lawyers said that the lawsuit was filed to force the startup to comply with the founding agreement and return to achieving the goals stipulated by the original mission.
OpenAI and Microsoft have not yet commented on the claims against them. Sam Altman last year, when Elon Musk had already made the first statements in the context of claims about the ideology of the startup’s activities, said about his disagreement with the reproaches from the billionaire and noted that the company he headed was going to make a positive contribution to the world, hinting at continued orientation to the goal in the form of benefits for humanity.
