Tesla and SpaceX owner Elon Musk is suing OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman for allegedly betraying the ChatGPT creator’s fundamental aims to benefit humanity.
In the lawsuit filed in San Francisco Superior Court, Musk claimed that when he funded the creation of OpenAI, he entered into an agreement with Altman and Greg Brockman to keep the AI company as a non-profit organisation that would develop technology for the benefit of society. The lawsuit stated that under the founding agreement, OpenAI would also make its code open to the public, rather than isolating it for the benefit of any private company.
OpenAI, Inc. has been transformed into a closed-source de facto subsidiary of the largest technology company in the world: Microsoft.
However, having established a close relationship with Microsoft, OpenAI and its top executives set the pact “aflame” and “perverted” the company’s mission, Musk stated.
“Under its new Board, it is not just developing but is actually refining an AGI [artificial general intelligence] to maximize profits for Microsoft, rather than for the benefit of humanity.”
AGI refers to general artificial intelligence, which is general-purpose AI systems that can perform as well as humans, or even better, in a wide range of tasks.
Musk is suing for violation of contract, breach of fiduciary duty and unfair commercial practices. He also wants an injunction preventing anyone, including Microsoft, from profiting from OpenAI’s technology.
