Elon Musk, co-founder of OpenAI, has filed a lawsuit against the company, his fellow co-founders, associated businesses, and unidentified others.
Musk claims that OpenAI’s pursuit of profits is in violation of its non-profit status and its contractual agreements to develop AI for the benefit of humanity.
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The lawsuit alleges that OpenAI has become a “closed-source de facto subsidiary” of Microsoft, which holds a 49 percent stake in the company. Microsoft has invested $13 billion in OpenAI and utilises its technology, such as Copilot, for generative AI tools.
According to Musk, OpenAI’s current board is allegedly developing and refining an artificial general intelligence (AGI) to maximise profits for Microsoft, rather than for the benefit of humanity. Musk argues that this goes against the founding agreement of OpenAI.
Musk expresses concerns over AGI, stating that it poses a grave threat to humanity, especially in the hands of a closed, for-profit company like Google. He claims that GPT-4, which is said to be better at reasoning than average humans, is equivalent to AGI and is a de facto Microsoft proprietary algorithm.
The lawsuit reveals that Musk initially helped start the non-profit and funded its early operations to counter Google’s advancements in the AGI space with DeepMind.
He asserts that their initial agreement called for OpenAI’s technology to be freely available to the public. Musk claims to have donated $44 million to the non-profit between 2016 and 2020.
Musk is seeking a jury trial and a ruling that enforces OpenAI’s original non-profit mission. He also wants OpenAI to be prohibited from monetizing technology developed as a non-profit for the benefit of OpenAI leadership, Microsoft, and other partners.
Competition regulators in the US, the UK, and the European Union are reportedly examining OpenAI’s partnership with Microsoft. Additionally, OpenAI and Microsoft are facing lawsuits from news organisations alleging copyright infringement.
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In response to the lawsuit, OpenAI has categorically disagreed with Musk’s claims. Chief Strategy Officer Jason Kwon denies that OpenAI has become a Microsoft subsidiary and suggests that Musk’s claims may stem from his regrets about not being involved with the company today.
Despite the legal battle, Musk’s contributions to the AI space and his concerns about AGI continue to shape the conversation around the development and ethical considerations of artificial intelligence.
