The ongoing feud between Elon Musk and OpenAI has taken a new turn as the influential artificial intelligence research lab has responded to Musk’s lawsuit with some shocking revelations. In its first public comments on the matter, OpenAI accused Musk of trying to turn the nonprofit organization into a for-profit entity before he left in early 2018.
According to a blog post published by OpenAI on Tuesday evening, the company intends to dismiss all claims made by Musk in his lawsuit. The lawsuit, filed against OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman, alleges that the organization breached its contract by prioritizing profits over the development of AI for the public good. Musk claims that OpenAI’s partnership with Microsoft, which was worth billions of dollars, led to a departure from its original mission of freely sharing AI technology with the public.
OpenAI was founded as a nonprofit in 2015 by Musk, Altman, Greg Brockman, and other AI researchers. The organization initially aimed to raise $100 million, but Musk insisted on announcing a fundraising goal of $1 billion, with him providing the additional funds. However, OpenAI only managed to raise less than $45 million from Musk and over $90 million from other donors.
The blog post also revealed that in early 2017, Musk and other OpenAI leaders realized that the organization would need billions of dollars per year to achieve its goal of building artificial general intelligence (A.G.I.). This led to discussions about transforming OpenAI into a for-profit company, with Musk demanding majority equity, board control, and the CEO position.
However, the other founders disagreed with Musk’s terms, believing that giving one person absolute control went against the organization’s mission. Musk even suggested attaching OpenAI to his electric car company, Tesla, as a way to secure funding. Ultimately, Musk’s lawsuit claims that OpenAI has strayed from its original mission of open sourcing AI technology.
As the battle between Musk and OpenAI continues, the future of the organization and its mission to develop AI for the public good remains uncertain. Stay tuned for more updates on this developing story.
