Billionaire Elon Musk sues OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman

Billionaire Elon Musk recently sued OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman, among others, accusing them of abandoning the company's founding mission of developing artificial intelligence "for the common good of humanity."

In a new lawsuit filed in San Francisco, Elon Musk's lawyers said the tech billionaire was approached by Sam Altman and OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman in 2015 and agreed to set up a nonprofit lab to develop general artificial intelligence for the "benefit of humanity."

Billionaire Elon Musk sues CEO Sam Altman for violating OpenAI's founding principles. (Photo: Getty)

Co-founder of OpenAI in 2015, Elon Musk stepped down from the company's board in 2018, three years after saying AI was “potentially more dangerous than nuclear weapons.”

“ To this day, OpenAI’s website continues to state that its charter is to ensure that Artificial Generative Intelligence (AGI) benefits all of humanity. In reality, however, OpenAI has been transformed into a corporation that serves the world’s largest technology company: Microsoft,” the lawsuit states.

Musk’s lawyers said in the lawsuit that OpenAI’s focus on maximizing profits for Microsoft violated its mission statement and the founding agreements. “ Under the new board, they are not only developing but actually refining AGI to maximize profits for Microsoft and a few other investors, rather than for the benefit of humanity,” the lawsuit said.

According to Musk's lawyers, the lawsuit was filed to force OpenAI to comply with the Founding Agreement and return to its mission of developing AGI for the benefit of humanity, not for the personal benefit of investors, or even the world's largest technology company like Microsoft.

OpenAI did not immediately comment on the news, and Microsoft declined to comment.

The legal action pits two of the world’s most prominent tech leaders against each other at a time when there is particular hype about the future of AI. Since its launch in November 2022, OpenAI’s chatbot, ChatGPT, has taken the world by storm. The AI tool quickly became the fastest-growing consumer app in history, and sparked the launch of rival chatbots from companies like Alphabet, Google’s parent company, and Microsoft.

Both Musk and Altman are making headlines. Musk, considered the world’s richest person, runs electric carmaker Tesla and rocket and satellite maker SpaceX, and bought X for $44 billion in October 2022. Musk recently reported progress on brain-chip implant technology from his startup Neuralink. Musk also announced the launch of his own AI company, xAI, last July.

Altman, meanwhile, has had a rocky relationship with OpenAI. He was abruptly fired from the company last November, in a move that sent shockwaves through the tech industry. The American entrepreneur—one of the leading figures in the AI boom—returned to the company a few days later.

HUYNH DUNG (Source: CNBC)

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