Musk Sues OpenAI's Altman: "Claimed to Help Humanity but Only Profiting"
by Kim Eunha
Published 02 Mar.2024 09:38(KST)
Updated 02 Mar.2024 10:39(KST)
"Open AI's All Research and Technology, Disclose It"
Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, has filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT, and its CEO Sam Altman. The reason cited is that OpenAI violated its founding goal of "developing artificial intelligence (AI) for the benefit of humanity."
Local media including The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on the 1st (local time) that "CEO Musk filed a lawsuit in a San Francisco court the day before, claiming that OpenAI violated the company's founding purpose for its own benefit."
Musk, who co-founded OpenAI in 2015 alongside Altman and board chairman Greg Brockman, argued that "when he financially supported the establishment of OpenAI, he received an agreement from Altman and Brockman to maintain it as a nonprofit organization developing technology for the public good." However, he stated in the lawsuit that "OpenAI has transformed into a de facto private subsidiary of the major tech company Microsoft (MS)." He pointed out that OpenAI is developing artificial general intelligence (AGI) to maximize MS's profits rather than humanity's benefit.
Musk, an early investor at OpenAI's founding in 2015 and co-chairman of the board with Altman, resigned from the OpenAI board in early 2018 after failing to reconcile differences with Altman over monetization. After stepping down from the board, he warned that "AI could become so powerful that humans cannot control it." Last year, he launched a new company called X.AI, positioning it as a "competitor to OpenAI."
Musk stated that "even after resigning from OpenAI, he continued donating, contributing over $44 million (approximately 58.8 billion KRW) by 2020, and also covered initial office rent." He requested that OpenAI make all its research and technology public, saying that "the closed, large-scale commercialization was not the original intention." Musk, who claims to have suffered unspecified damages, said that if he receives compensation through this lawsuit, he will donate it to charity.
Altman is a leading figure in the artificial intelligence industry. His stake in OpenAI is currently valued at $86 billion (approximately 115 trillion KRW).
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