Sam Altman and Elon Musk are now involved in a legal battle, with Elon Musk filing a lawsuit against OpenAI, backed by Microsoft, and its CEO Sam Altman, co-founder Greg Brockman, accusing them of betraying the company's initial goal of creating AI for the broader “benefit of humanity”, rather than purely for profit.
Musk is seeking legal action to compel OpenAI, specifically named Altman and Brockman, to disclose their technology to the public and prohibit them from using assets like GPT-4 for financial gain, particularly benefiting Microsoft or any individual. According to Musk's lawyers, OpenAI has maintained complete secrecy regarding the design of GPT-4, its most advanced AI model.
Lawsuit against OpenAI
The lawsuit, filed late on Thursday in San Francisco, stated, "OpenAI, Inc.'s website still claims its mission is to ensure that AGI benefits all of humanity. However, in reality, OpenAI, Inc. has become a closed-source entity closely linked to the world's largest technology company: Microsoft."
In the lawsuit, Musk's lawyers argued that OpenAI's shift towards prioritizing profits for Microsoft violates their agreement. "Under its new Board, it is not only engaged in development but is actively enhancing an AGI to maximize profits for Microsoft, rather than prioritising the benefit of humanity.
OpenAI introduced its artificial general intelligence, GPT-4, in March 2023, capable of human-like cognitive tasks. However, while GPT-3.5 models remain free for use, access to GPT-4 tools requires a subscription costing $20 per month, approximately Rs 1,650 for users in India.
Musk opposes this move, asserting that charging for AGI tools contradicts OpenAI's original mission of providing technology for the betterment of humanity rather than for commercial gain.
“The internal details of GPT-4 are known only to OpenAI and, on information and belief, to Microsoft. GPT-4 is hence the opposite of Open AI,” Musk said in the lawsuit, according to the Courthouse News Service. “And it is closed for propriety commercial reasons: Microsoft stands to make a fortune selling GPT-4 to the public, which would not be possible if OpenAI”as it is required to do—makes the technology freely available to the public,” the lawsuit further reads.
In his lawsuit, Musk emphasizes the events surrounding Sam Altman's dismissal and subsequent reinstatement as CEO in 2023. Musk asserts that Altman's removal led to Microsoft's intervention, pressuring board members who initiated the dismissal to resign. He argues that the current board lacks the scientific and technological acumen previously held by supportive scientists and researchers.
Musk stepped down from OpenAI
Elon Musk and Sam Altman joined forces to establish OpenAI in 2015. However, Musk, who also leads Tesla, SpaceX, and acquired Twitter for $44 billion in October 2022, resigned from OpenAI's board in 2018, four years after saying that AI is "potentially more dangerous than nukes."
Musk advocated for merging OpenAI into Tesla to address concerns about lagging behind Google, but when the OpenAI team resisted, Musk departed from the organization, leaving Altman to take over as CEO.
Musk has often criticized Microsoft's ties with the startup. "Microsoft has a very strong say, if not directly controls, OpenAI at this point," Musk had said in an interview with Tucker Carlson in April last year.
Musk has frequently taken to social media in recent years to highlight OpenAI's shift towards commercialization of AI. Just a few months ago, Musk posted on X, expressing his dissatisfaction: "OpenAI was established as an open-source, non-profit organization to counterbalance Google, but it has evolved into a closed-source, profit-driven company effectively controlled by Microsoft. This was not my original intention," he tweeted.
OpenAI's chatbot, ChatGPT, became super popular really fast after it launched in November 2022. It even inspired other companies like Microsoft and Alphabet to make their own chatbots, and many startups got a bunch of money because of the hype.
MUSK’s ‘For-Profit’ xAI
Musk recently launched his ‘for-profit AI firm’, xAI, July last year, Compised of engineers recruited from leading U.S. technology companies like Google and Microsoft, xAI aims to compete with established players. The startup launched its ChatGPT rival, Grok, for Premium+ subscribers of social media platform X in December, with Musk envisioning it as a "maximum truth-seeking AI."
He also made investments in companies like Neuralink and Optimus, underscores his deep involvement in artificial intelligence development. His dedication to integrating AI into Tesla vehicles has been evident through ventures like Neuralink, Optimus, and Dojo.
Altman fired from OpenAI
Altman had a bumpy time with OpenAI. He got fired suddenly last November, which surprised a lot of people in the tech world. But then, he came back a few days later. The company's former board said they were trying to protect their mission, but Altman returned with a new board. Now, OpenAI is getting ready to bring on some new board members in March.
(Inputs from Agencies)
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