Elon Musk may have been an early investor and supporter of OpenAI, but in a blockbuster lawsuit on Thursday, he's now become one of the company's biggest detractors.
In a wide-ranging complaint on Thursday, Musk sued both OpenAI and its chief executive, Sam Altman, for allegedly breaking the company's founding agreement that should have ensured it remained a not-for-profit with no alignment with any single company.
"OpenAI, Inc. has been transformed into a closed-source de facto subsidiary of the largest technology company in the world: Microsoft," the suit argues. "Under its new board, it is not just developing but is actually refining an [artificial general intelligence] to maximize profits for Microsoft, rather than for the benefit of humanity."
In the lawsuit, Musk has asked the court to compel OpenAI to make its technology and research open source and restrict the company from creating a for-profit business with Microsoft or any other company. He's also asking the court to rule that ChatGPT-4 and an upcoming OpenAI technology called Q* are artificial general intelligence and outside the scope of the OpenAI-Microsoft agreement.
OpenAI, which was founded in 2015, is best known for its ChatGPT product. In its earliest days, Altman and Musk were in lock-step over their belief that humanity was quickly racing towards the creation of artificial intelligence. They believed that if they could be the first movers on AI, they could safeguard humanity. OpenAI would build an AI platform without company affiliation or a desire to generate profits, and it would instead act as a guardian for people across the globe.
In addition to investing in the concept, Musk also served as co-chairperson on the OpenAI board. He eventually departed in 2018, when Altman pitched the idea of starting a for-profit component to OpenAI - a move Musk strongly disagreed with.
In 2019, Microsoft, encouraged by the concept of a for-profit entity and clearly seeing the value of AI over the long term, invested $13 billion in the company in return for 49 percent of the business.
To Musk, the combination of a for-profit business and the Microsoft affiliation was a violation of the company's core principles. In the lawsuit, he said the move was akin to setting "the founding agreement aflame." OpenAI now serves as little more than a division of Microsoft, he claims.
Roman Yampolskiy, a professor at Louisville and artificial intelligence expert, argues Musk was right to sue OpenAI. He told Tech Times that Musk "should have done it years ago" with the risks the current incarnation of the company presents to humanity.
"They changed the mission of the non-profit," Yampolskiy said. And they did so in a way that made work on artificial general intelligence less safe."
Artificial general intelligence, or AGI, is the concept that machines are capable of thinking and reasoning like humans, effectively making them sentient beings capable of using their immense technological superpowers to pose a threat to humanity. In the lawsuit, Musk says OpenAI is well on its way to AGI.
For Yampolskiy, the risks of that are significant. He told Tech Times that by changing its mission, potentially developing AGI, and effectively flouting Musk's warnings, the risks are greater than ever.
"Both the world and humans are at risk," he ominously said.
To be sure, Altman, OpenAI, and Microsoft don't agree. OpenAI has been clear that it takes its responsibility of building artificial intelligence platforms extremely seriously and is always looking out for humanity's best interests. But Altman has also acknowledged that ChatGPT and the company's broader AI ambitions hold commercial promise.
Can Elon Win?
Perhaps the ultimate question facing Musk's lawsuit is whether he can win. While Musk is one of the richest people in the world, the combined power behind Microsoft, OpenAI, and Altman is significant. And with such a far-ranging lawsuit, with serious implications not only for the companies but also the world, it's unlikely a ruling would be simple - or happen anytime soon. It's why Yampolskiy said Musk should have filed the suit years ago.
But Yampolskiy, who supports Musk's complaint, isn't necessarily concerned with the outcome. He believes Musk will ultimately prove victorious against OpenAI. But ominously, he hopes it happens sooner rather than later because of the serious and potentially life-changing effects AI could have on the world.
"Elon always wins in the end," said Yampolskiy. "Hopefully (this time), it's not the end - of the world."
About the author: Don Reisinger is a longtime freelance writer who has written on topics as far-ranging as technology and business to science topics. His work has appeared in a variety of publications, including Fortune, Inc., The New York Times, Business Insider, Tom's Guide, and many others. Follow him at https://muckrack.com/donreisinger and https://twitter.com/donreisinger
