Elon Musk has filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, along with its CEO Sam Altman, alleging that they have strayed from the original mission of developing artificial intelligence (AI) for the betterment of humanity rather than for profit.
The lawsuit, filed in San Francisco late on Thursday, marks the culmination of Musk’s ongoing disagreement with the startup he helped create, which has become synonymous with advanced AI technology, partly due to substantial funding from Microsoft.
Musk claims a breach of contract, contending that Altman and co-founder Greg Brockman initially approached him to establish an open-source, non-profit organization. However, Musk alleges that since its inception in 2015, the company has shifted its focus to profit-making endeavors.
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According to Musk, OpenAI was intended to work on artificial general intelligence (AGI), aiming to develop machines capable of human-like tasks to benefit humanity. Musk believed this was necessary to counter the potential risks posed by companies like Google, which he feared were developing AGI for profit.
However, Musk asserts that OpenAI deviated from its founding principles in 2023 when it released its most powerful language model, GPT-4, essentially as a product of Microsoft.
Musk seeks legal action to compel OpenAI to make its research and technology publicly available and prevent the startup from exploiting its assets, including GPT-4, for Microsoft’s financial gain or individual profit.
OpenAI, Microsoft, and Musk have yet to respond to requests for comment on the matter.
Additionally, Musk aims to classify GPT-4 and a newer, more advanced technology known as Q*, as AGI, thereby excluding them from Microsoft’s license agreement with OpenAI.
Musk, who heads Tesla and SpaceX, and acquired Twitter for $44 billion in October 2022, resigned from OpenAI’s board in 2018. He has consistently advocated for AI regulation due to its potential societal impacts.
