Elon Musk Takes OpenAI and Sam Altman to Court Again for Putting Profits Before Public Interest

• Elon Musk’s latest suit reiterates his stance that Altman manipulated Musk into co-founding OpenAI.
• Altman and OpenAI have 14 ongoing lawsuits relating to copyright and privacy infringement, misinformation, and breach of contracts.
• OpenAI co-founder and key ChatGPT architect John Schulman has left the company to work at rival AI firm Anthropic.

Elon Musk is once again suing Sam Altman, Greg Brockman, and OpenAI for a betrayal and deceit of “Shakespearean proportions.”

The billionaire is accusing the artificial intelligence (AI) behemoth of straying too far from its contractually promised foundations as a non-profit and tricking him into co-founding the firm under this pretense.

Sam Altman Sued

Elon Musk has filed a lawsuit  against OpenAI, alleging that ChatGPT and two of its co-founders, Sam Altman and Greg Brockman, have betrayed the firm’s founding mission to ethically develop AI tech for the betterment of humanity.

“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. But as it turns out, this was all hot-air philanthropy—the hook for Altman’s long con.”

The complaint also accuses Altman and Brockman of assiduously manipulating Musk into co-founding the non-profit and putting the entrepreneur’s name behind it, which Altman said would attract world-class talent and investment.

“After Musk lent his name to the venture, invested significant time, tens of millions of dollars in seed capital, and recruited top Al scientists for OpenAL Inc., Musk and the non-profit’s namesake objective were betrayed by Altman and his accomplices. The perfidy and deceit are of Shakespearean proportions”

Altman, Brockman, and OpenAI may be the only defendants listed in the suit, but Microsoft is also frequently named throughout.

Microsoft’s Role

The lawsuit claimed Microsoft “sought to obtain leverage” in OpenAI by, for example, luring the company to become “inextricably dependent on Microsoft’s cloud computing system.”

It also alleges that Microsoft and Altman “established an opaque web of for-profit OpenAI affiliates” engaging in “rampant self-dealing.” The lawsuit particularly details how Microsoft and others purportedly seized OpenAI from the inside, draining valuable tech and personnel.

It’s worth noting that Microsoft is the single largest investor in OpenAI, having poured some $13 billion into the firm. This was, of course, before vacating the firm’s board of directors and distancing itself amid antitrust investigations pertaining to its investment in OpenAI.

The lawsuit is seeking a judicial determination to essentially revoke OpenAI’s license to Microsoft, which lets it use its AI models following its entrenchment into OpenAI.

OpenAI Team Disbands

The lawsuit coincides with a significant departure from OpenAI, as co-founder and key ChatGPT architect John Schulman leaves the company to join rival firm Anthropic.

Interestingly, former OpenAI researchers founded Anthropic, OpenAI’s main competitor. It positions itself as an “AI safety and research” firm.

Announcing the news to X, Schulman explains  that he desires to further his work in AI alignment and return to more “hands-on technical work.” This is not to say that alignment research is lacking at OpenAI, Schulman adds, noting that OpenAI has been “very committed to investing in this area.”

“My decision is a personal one, based on how I want to focus my efforts in the next phase of my career.“

Other notable departures from OpenAI include Ilya Sutskever, a co-founder and former chief scientist who left in May . Around the same time, OpenAI safety-centric exec Jan Leike also resigned , citing concerns with the firm’s core priorities .

The departure of Schulman and other key members perhaps underscores Musk’s latest claims. Sizeable key figures losing faith in OpenAI’s direction of travel and leaving the company may serve to reinforce those arguments.

About the Author

Eddie Mitchell

Eddie has been writing news and content primarily for crypto news and industry players over the past seven years. With an eye for the bigger picture, Eddie prefers to investigate the broader implications of a story, as well as explore the weird and wonderful world of crypto. He believes blockchain has already changed the world, but observes the space overall with a skeptical and adoring eye.

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