Musk sues OpenAI for manipulating him in 'Shakespearean deceit ...
Elon Musk has refiled a lawsuit against OpenAI, claiming he was the victim of a 'deceit of Shakespearean proportions'. The Tesla boss is suing the popular AI platform and two of its founders, Sam Altman and Greg Brockman, for putting profits before 'the benefit of humanity'.
Deception by OpenAI
He alleges that Altman misled him into investing money into OpenAI as a non-profit. Musk's key issue with Altman is that he believed that OpenAI would not be for-profit but instead serve as a tool to aid the "good of humanity". Musk claims that the platform was supposed to serve the public, according to Altman's original pitch.
Legal Battle and Disappointment
Musk's lawyers claim Open AI "would be owned by the foundation and used ‘for the good of the world." “Altman assured Musk that the non-profit structure guaranteed neutrality and a focus on safety and openness for the benefit of humanity, not shareholder value,” the lawsuit adds.
“But as it turns out, this was all hot-air philanthropy—the hook for Altman’s long con.” Open AI is the platform responsible for the most notable AI assistant, ChatGPT. The company has recently begun focusing on developing an AI-assisted search engine to rival Google.
The company is now majorly owned by Microsoft, making Musk frustrated that the non-profit “exclusively license its technology to Microsoft, the world’s largest for-profit corporation.”
“Whereas Musk was concerned that AI posed an existential danger to humankind and the technology should be decentralized and open, Nadella and Microsoft’s co-founder Bill Gates minimized Musk’s concerns as “panic” and too far off in the future,” the lawsuit says. The sale gave 49% of ownership to Microsoft, with the rest coming from other stakeholders.
Musk feels as if the Microsoft investment went against the public-access vision that Altman promised him, and the end goal of the lawsuit is for “a judicial determination that OpenAI, Inc.’s license to Microsoft is null and void.”
