Elon Musk, an entrepreneur behind companies like Tesla and SpaceX, has filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altman, alleging breach of non-profit agreement. Musk argues that OpenAI has strayed from its original mission to advance open source artificial general intelligence (AGI) for the benefit of humanity.
The legal complaint, filed in San Francisco Superior Court, accuses OpenAI of breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty and unfair business practices. Musk is urging OpenAI to return to open source principles and is seeking an injunction to prevent commercial use of its AGI technology.
The lawsuit focuses on OpenAI’s collaboration with Microsoft, particularly the March 2023 launch of GPT-4, which Musk claims is a significant departure from OpenAI’s principles. GPT-4, unlike its predecessors, is a closed model, and Musk argues that this move toward proprietary technology is financially beneficial to Microsoft and contradicts OpenAI’s initial non-profit mission.
OpenAI, which started as a non-profit AI research lab in 2015, has grown into a commercial giant by establishing a business division in 2020. Critics, including Musk, argue that the company has shifted its focus to a profit-driven model that prioritizes speed and profits. It has a positive impact on humans.
OpenAI was created as an open source (hence the name Open AI), non-profit company to act as a counter to Google, but has now become a closed source, profit-making company effectively controlled by Microsoft.
That’s not what I intended at all.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 17, 2023
OpenAI’s revenue exceeds $2 billion annually, making it one of the fastest-growing technology companies, according to the Financial Times, driven by the success of its AI product, ChatGPT.
Musk has long been concerned about the impact of AI on humanity and has advocated for government regulation and responsible AI development. He criticized the professionalism of OpenAI’s current board of directors, saying it lacks the technical knowledge needed for responsible AGI development.
The conflict between Musk, the OpenAI board, and Altman involves the development of GPT-4 and potential next iterations of AGI technology. Musk expressed concern about how this could impact public safety.