Business leader, Elon Musk has sued ChatGPT-maker OpenAI and its CEO, Sam Altman. The charges are of abandoning the original mission to develop artificial intelligence for the benefit of humanity and not for profit. The lawsuit was filed late on Thursday in San Francisco and puts the billionaire at loggerheads with the startup that he co-founded and is now the face of generative AI, partly due to the billions of dollars in funding from Microsoft.
New company is focused on making money as per Musk
Musk alleged a breach of contract, saying Altman and co-founder Greg Brockman originally approached him to make an open source, non-profit company. However, the startup that was established in 2015 is now focused on making money. He sought a court ruling asking OpenAI to make its research and technology available to the public. He has sought to prevent the startup from using its assets, GPT-4 that is its most-advanced AI model, for the financial gains of Microsoft or any individual.
As per latest reports available, neither OpenAI, Microsoft nor Musk immediately responded to media requests for comment.
Musk, who runs Tesla and rocket maker SpaceX bought Twitter for $44 billion in October 2022 that has now been renamed as X. On several occasions, Elon Musk has called for regulation on AI.
He stepped down from OpenAI’s board in 2018 and has often been vocal with criticism of 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 in April last year.
High-profile boardroom battle last year that hogged headlines globally
The tie-up is under antitrust scrutiny in both the United States and Britain following the startup’s boardroom battle last year that led to the sudden ouster and return of Altman and the creation of a new temporary board. OpenAI is planning to appoint several new board members in March, the Washington Post reported on Thursday.
Microsoft has said it would have a non-voting, observer seat on the board.
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