Elon Musk, the co-founder of OpenAI, has filed a lawsuit against the company and its CEO, Sam Altman, alleging a breach of contract. Musk contends that OpenAI has strayed from its original mission to develop artificial intelligence "for the benefit of humanity broadly."
Musk was instrumental in the establishment of OpenAI in 2015 but voluntarily left his position on the board in 2018. His departure came after he voiced concerns that AI development could potentially pose greater risks than nuclear weapons. According to CNBC, Musk's lawsuit alleges, "To this day, OpenAI, Inc.'s website continues to profess that its charter is to ensure that AGI (Artificial General Intelligence) benefits all of humanity. In reality, however, OpenAI, Inc. has been transformed into a closed-source de facto subsidiary of the largest technology company in the world: Microsoft." Musk asserts that OpenAI's focus has shifted towards maximizing profits for Microsoft rather than prioritizing what is best for humanity.
In his lawsuit, Musk seeks a court ruling that would compel OpenAI to make its research and technology publicly accessible. This move aims to prevent the company from using its assets solely for Microsoft's financial gain. Reuters reports that OpenAI plans to appoint new board members in March and Microsoft will only have a non-voting seat on the board as an observer to avoid influencing decisions. Since ChatGPT's debut, various industries have adopted this AI software for tasks such as document summarization and code writing assistance.
The lawsuit also raises questions about a leadership crisis at OpenAI in November 2023 when Altman was temporarily removed from his role as CEO due to board members' concerns about AI's potential risks to humanity. However, Altman was reinstated as CEO after a few days and has remained in the position since then. CNN reports that while Microsoft is not named as a defendant in the lawsuit, it is mentioned 68 times throughout the complaint.
