OpenAI co-founder Elon Musk sued the company, his fellow co-founders, affiliated companies and other unidentified people. He claims that by pursuing profit, he is violating OpenAI’s status as a non-profit organization and its basic contractual agreement to develop AI “for the benefit of humanity.”
The lawsuit alleges that OpenAI has become a “closed-source de facto subsidiary” of Microsoft, with which it has invested $13 billion and holds a 49% stake. Microsoft uses OpenAI technology to power generative AI tools like Copilot.
According to the filing, OpenAI’s current board of directors “is reportedly developing and improving artificial general intelligence (AGI) to maximize Microsoft’s interests, not the interests of humanity.” “This is a clear betrayal of the founding agreement.”
The lawsuit defines AGI as “machines with intelligence for a variety of tasks similar to humans.” In his lawsuit, Musk claims that GPT-4, which is said to be “better at reasoning than the average human,” is identical to AGI and is “in effect a Microsoft proprietary algorithm.”
Musk has long expressed concerns about AGI. He argues that the theoretical technology poses a “serious threat to humanity,” especially “in the hands of closed, commercial companies like Google.”
According to the filing, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and fellow co-founder Greg Brockman are starting a non-profit to counter Google’s advances in AGI through DeepMind and fund its initial operations. Persuaded Musk to apply. He noted that the initial agreement called for OpenAI’s technology to be “freely available” to the public. Musk claims to have donated $44 million to nonprofits between 2016 and 2020 (he stepped down as a member of OpenAI’s board of directors in 2018). like Tech Crunch Musk was previously offered a stake in OpenAI’s for-profit subsidiary, but turned it down due to his “principled stance,” according to the report.
Of course, Muskl has some skin in the game. Since the release of OpenAI’s ChatGPT in November 2022, there has been a competition among tech giants to provide the best generative AI tool. Musk joined the fray last year when his AI company, xAI, launched Grok, a ChatGPT rival, to Premium+ subscribers on his X social network.
When Altman quickly regained power after OpenAI’s board shockingly fired him last November, he reportedly appointed a new group of directors less technically minded and more business-focused. Microsoft was appointed as a non-voting observer. “The new board of directors is comprised of members with more experience in profit-driven business or politics than in AI ethics and governance,” the lawsuit alleges.
The lawsuit accuses the defendants of breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty and unfair business practices. Musk is seeking a jury trial and verdict that would force OpenAI to stick to its original non-profit mission. He also wants OpenAI leadership, Microsoft and other partners to be banned from monetizing the technology they develop on a non-profit basis.
Competition regulators in the US, UK, and European Union (EU) are said to be reviewing OpenAI’s partnership with Microsoft. It was reported this week that the Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating whether OpenAI misled investors. Several media organizations have sued OpenAI and Microsoft, claiming that ChatGPT repurposes them “simultaneously or nearly verbatim” without attribution, infringing copyright in the process.
As seen in a few internal memos: bloomberg, OpenAI said it “absolutely disagrees” with the lawsuit filed by Musk. Chief Strategy Officer Jason Kwon denied that OpenAI had become a “de facto subsidiary” of Microsoft and said Musk’s claims “may have originated from:” [his] I regret not being part of the company today.” In another note, Altman said Musk was his hero and that he misses the man he knew who built better technology to compete with others.
Update, March 2, 2023, 1:47 a.m. ET: This story has been updated to include OpenAI’s internal memo regarding the lawsuit.
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