In a surprising turn of events, lawyers representing Elon Musk filed a motion on Tuesday to dismiss the billionaire’s lawsuit against OpenAI and its CEO, Sam Altman.
This move ends a contentious legal battle between the co-founders of the artificial intelligence startup that began in February.
Elon Musk, who co-founded OpenAI in 2015, initiated the lawsuit earlier this year, accusing the ChatGPT creator of deviating from its original nonprofit mission. Musk’s complaint alleged that OpenAI was reserving some of its most advanced AI technologies for private customers, rather than adhering to its founding principles.
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The lawsuit sought a jury trial and demanded that Altman, along with co-founder and president Greg Brockman, return any profits accrued from these business practices.
OpenAI quickly responded to Musk’s allegations, characterizing them as “incoherent” and “frivolous.” In their defense, the company pointed to several emails from Musk himself, dating back to OpenAI’s early days. These emails purportedly showed Musk acknowledging the necessity for the company to generate significant revenue to support the immense computing resources required for its AI projects.
This evidence starkly contrasted with Musk’s claim that OpenAI was improperly pursuing profit.
Musk’s legal team did not provide an explanation for their decision to withdraw the lawsuit in the court filing, according to CNN.
This development came just a day before a scheduled hearing on OpenAI’s motion to dismiss the case. Interestingly, the lawsuit’s withdrawal coincided with Musk’s public criticism of OpenAI on his social media platform X, following Apple’s announcement of a partnership to integrate ChatGPT with Siri on an opt-in basis.
Musk vehemently opposed this integration, citing security concerns and threatening to ban Apple devices from his companies.
“If Apple integrates OpenAI at the OS level, then Apple devices will be banned at my companies,” Musk declared, describing it as “an unacceptable security violation.”
He further added that visitors would need to check their Apple devices at the door, where they would be stored in a Faraday cage to prevent any potential data leaks.
Diverging Visions for OpenAI
The lawsuit underscored the starkly different visions held by Musk and OpenAI for the future of the company. Musk accused OpenAI of prioritizing the development of powerful “artificial general intelligence” (AGI) to maximize profits, while OpenAI suggested Musk was envious of the company’s direction after his departure in 2018.
Musk, who has been a fierce advocate for AI regulation, left OpenAI following an unsuccessful attempt to convince his fellow co-founders to allow Tesla to acquire the startup.
The lawsuit withdrawal is another challenge overcome by OpenAI, which has had to deal with a serious internal crisis that resulted in the ouster of Altman. Although the CEO was later reinstated after the intervention of Microsoft, a major investor in OpenAI, the crisis spurred by concerns from several board members about the risks associated with artificial intelligence, was noted as the company’s biggest controversy since launch.
Safety has remained a huge topic within the burgeoning AI industry, with Musk warning that the technology is capable of ending civilization if a safety regulatory framework to contain its excess is not promptly developed.
Launching Grok
In response to what he perceives as missteps by OpenAI, Musk has launched his own generative AI named Grok. Announced shortly after his lawsuit against OpenAI, Grok aims to offer an alternative vision for AI development, emphasizing transparency, safety, and adherence to the principles Musk believes OpenAI has abandoned. Grok’s launch signifies Musk’s determination to influence the AI industry directly, challenging OpenAI’s dominant position in the field.
Although the lawsuit has been dismissed, OpenAI still faces internal issues emanating from safety concerns, reflecting broader concern about AI development. More recently, the company faced further challenges with the departure of several high-profile safety leaders who criticized the company for prioritizing rapid product rollouts over safety concerns. In response, OpenAI established a new committee dedicated to making safety and security recommendations to its board.