Elon Musk has never shied away from criticizing OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, which he co-founded in 2015. He didn’t like the idea that the company decided to make money after it was founded as a nonprofit. Now, Musk is taking action: He’s asking a court to force OpenAI to fulfill its nonprofit mission. Oh, and he wants to get back $44 million in donations.
Musk Suing OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman Altman was accused in a San Francisco court on Thursday of betraying OpenAI’s mission of developing artificial intelligence for the public good and making its research freely available to the public. Musk believes the company is not following that mission and is instead focused on enriching Altman and Microsoft, which has invested $13 billion in OpenAI’s for-profit arm. As a result, the lawsuit claims, OpenAI refused to share information about GPT-4, the most powerful LLM the company has released to date.
“To this day, OpenAI, Inc.’s website still states that its charter is to ensure that AGI [Artificial General Intelligence] “To the benefit of all mankind.” In reality, however, OpenAI, Inc. has been transformed into a de facto closed-source subsidiary of Microsoft, the world’s largest technology company,” Musk’s lawyers wrote. “Under the leadership of the new board of directors, it General artificial intelligence is not only being developed but actually being perfected to maximize Microsoft’s profits rather than for the benefit of humanity. “
The lawsuit itself is not surprising.Musk has made no secret of his frustration with OpenAI over the years, saying public doubt Is it legal to start a company as a non-profit and then use the intellectual property to generate revenue. In February 2023, Musk Point out OpenAI in its current form used to be”[n]This was not my intention at all. ”
Elon Musk’s role in creating OpenAI
Musk’s lawyers have highlighted Musk’s role in creating and funding OpenAI. According to the lawsuit, Altman approached Musk in 2015 about building an artificial intelligence lab to compete with Google’s DeepMind, which was leading the AI race at the time. Musk and Altman launched the nonprofit “OpenAI” with OpenAI president Greg Brockman.
The name was chosen by Musk, who donated $15 million to the nonprofit in 2016 and paid for its initial office space in San Francisco. He also played a key role in recruiting former OpenAI chief scientist Ilya Sutskever to leave Google. Over the years, Musk has donated more than $44 million to OpenAI.
The possibility of converting OpenAI from a non-profit foundation to a for-profit company was reportedly shelved in 2017. Brockman and others pitched the idea to Musk, but he shot it down, according to the lawsuit.
“[E]Either do something yourself or continue OpenAI as a non-profit organization. ” Musk said at the time. “I will no longer fund OpenAI unless you make a firm commitment to stay, otherwise I am a fool and essentially provide free money to startups. The discussion is over. “
Altman reportedly agreed with Musk’s response and said he was “still passionate about the nonprofit structure!” Musk stepped down as co-chairman in 2018 and slowed his donations, but he has continued to be involved in the project. OpenAI will continue to create a for-profit division in 2019.
Musk asks court to force OpenAI to return to its nonprofit roots
Musk is suing OpenAI and Altman for breach of contract and breach of fiduciary duty. The billionaire claimed that OpenAI violated an agreement with him that stipulated that the company would be a non-profit organization developing artificial intelligence for the public benefit and that its research would be open source.
Musk also claimed that Altman induced him to donate to OpenAI, saying that OpenAI would be a non-profit organization and operate under a specific set of conditions. However, Altman did not keep that promise, according to the lawsuit.
Musk asked the court to force OpenAI to disclose its research and technology to the public, including the engineering behind GPT-4. The billionaire also wants the court to bar OpenAI from making future profits in addition to returning the $44 million he donated to OpenAI.
Gizmodo reached out to OpenAI and Microsoft for comment on Musk’s lawsuit but did not immediately receive a response.
Deborah Gerhart Professor of Law The professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill told Gizmodo in an email that Musk’s complaint points to some significant and potentially damaging claims, both about OpenAI’s structure and reputation. However, Gerhardt said it’s unclear whether Musk can prove his donation was contingent on specific actions, such as not creating a related but separate for-profit company.
“It’s unclear why he believes his judgment is superior to those within OpenAI on issues such as which AI practices best fulfill the nonprofit’s mission to responsibly develop AI for the future,” she said. “Typically, those who donate to nonprofits do not micromanage which corporate policies advance the nonprofit’s mission.”