Elon Musk sues Sam Altman for abandoning OpenAI's original mission

Billionaire Elon Musk, who co-founded OpenAI but no longer owns a stake, said in a lawsuit filed late Thursday in San Francisco that the company’s partnership with Microsoft undermined its original mission of creating open-source technology.

Elon Musk and Sam Altman on the Origin of OpenAI Image 1 — Billionaire Elon Musk. Photo: Reuters

Musk has been one of the most outspoken about the dangers of artificial general intelligence. OpenAI’s release of ChatGPT more than a year ago popularized advances in AI technology and raised concerns about the risks surrounding the race to AGI, the technology that will make machines as intelligent as humans.

The 52-year-old billionaire, the world's richest man, helped found OpenAI in 2015 but left the company about two years later over philosophical differences about how to monetize the technology. In addition to leading Tesla, he owns the social network X, is raising money for an AI venture he founded called xAI, and has released the chatbot Grok.

Musk argues in the lawsuit that Altman, OpenAI president Greg Brockman and Microsoft collaborated to oust most of the startup's board of directors, who were responsible for executing its original mission of developing technology for the benefit of humanity.

Since introducing ChatGPT and GPT-4, the large language model that powers chatbots, OpenAI has been driving a wave of AI adoption in businesses around the world. Microsoft is one of the most aggressive companies in incorporating the technology into many of its cloud and enterprise services.

“Altman handpicked a new board that lacked the same technical expertise or any basic knowledge of AI governance that the previous board had designed,” the lawsuit says. “The new board is comprised of members with more experience in politics or profit-driven business than in AI ethics and governance.”

The case marks one of the most high-profile showdowns in AI, pitting two of its most prominent players against each other. The lawsuit will have implications not only for OpenAI, which is seeking to raise funds at a valuation of $100 billion or more, but also for Microsoft.

Microsoft shares have surged 68% over the past year, making it the world's most valuable company as it seeks to become a leader in applying AI to business.

Mai Van (according to Bloomberg, Reuters, SCMP)

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