Elon Musk takes OpenAI to court, claims ChatGPT maker prioritized profits over public interest
On Monday, Elon Musk filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and its founders Sam Altman and Greg Brockman, further alleging that the ChatGPT maker betrayed its founding purpose of benefiting the public rather than pursuing profit.
The lawsuit, filed in Northern California federal court, calls Musk’s case “a classic story of altruism versus greed.” According to the complaint, Altman and others named in the lawsuit “deliberately courted and deceived Musk, exploiting Musk’s humanitarian concerns about the existential dangers posed by artificial intelligence.”
Musk was an early investor in OpenAI when it was founded in 2015 and co-chaired the board with Altman. He said in the lawsuit that he invested “tens of millions” of dollars and recruited top AI research scientists to OpenAI. Musk resigned from the board in early 2018 in a move that OpenAI said — at the time — would prevent conflicts of interest as he recruited AI talent to build self-driving technology at the electric carmaker.
Musk’s previous lawsuit against OpenAI
Tesla’s CEO dropped his previous lawsuit against OpenAI without explanation in June. That lawsuit alleged that when Musk funded the creation of OpenAI, he reached an agreement with Altman and Brockman to keep the AI company as a nonprofit that would develop technology for the public good and keep the company’s code open.
“As we said in Elon’s original legal filing, which was later retracted, Elon’s previous emails still speak for themselves,” an OpenAI spokesperson said in an emailed statement. In March, OpenAI released emails from Musk showing his previous support for turning the company into a for-profit.
In the new lawsuit, Musk claims that he and OpenAI’s eponymous goal were “betrayed” by Altman and his co-conspirators.
“This betrayal and deception is of Shakespearean proportions,” the complaint said.
One more thing! We are now on WhatsApp Channel! Follow us there so you never miss any updates from the tech world. To follow HT Tech channel on WhatsApp, click This to join now!
