Elon Musk has suedย Microsoft-backed OpenAI and its CEO, Sam Altman, among others, for breaching the company’s contract that aims to benefit humanity rather than pursuing profits.
In aย lawsuit filed on Thursday in the San Francisco Superior Court, Musk’s lawyers accused OpenAI of drifting away from its founding principles of developing artificial intelligence (AI) for the “benefit of humanity” over profits.
The company, initially envisioned as an open-source, non-profit entity for which the AI was developed, started shifting towards profit-seeking ventures, thereby violating the terms of the Founding Agreement.
The lawsuit states that the company had kept the design of ChatGPT-4, its most advanced AI model, “a complete secret.” Further, the closed nature of GPT-4 conflicts with OpenAI’s commitment to openness and transparency.
Musk’s lawyers also allege in the lawsuit that Mr. Altman, Mr. Greg Brockman (President of OpenAI), and OpenAI, who are named as defendants, set the Founding Agreement “aflame” and are “perverting” the company’s mission.
The tech billionaire is demanding a jury trial and for the company, Altman and Brockman, to pay back the profit they received from the business.
“To this day, OpenAI, Inc.’s website continues to profess that its charter is to ensure that AGI benefits all of humanity.’ In reality, however, OpenAI, Inc. has been transformed into a closed-source de facto subsidiary of the largest technology company in the world: Microsoft,” the lawsuit filing said.
“Under its new board, it is not just developing but is actually refining an AGI to maximize profits for Microsoft, rather than for the benefit of humanity.”
Musk’s lawyers state that the lawsuit was submitted “to compel OpenAI to adhere to the Founding Agreement and return to its mission to develop AGI for the benefit of humanity, not to personally benefit the individual Defendants and the largest technology company in the world.”
Musk was one of the many people who co-founded OpenAI in 2015. However, he stepped down from the company’s board of directors in 2018, four years after citing a conflict of interest with his work at Tesla.
Musk’s lawyers are suing over claims of breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, and unfair business practices against OpenAI. They are asking the company to revert to being an open-source platform instead of blocking it for any private company’s gains.
The Tesla CEO has also filed an injunction to prevent anyone, including Microsoft and top OpenAI officials, from earning profits from the usage of AI technology.
Neither OpenAI, Microsoft, nor Musk were immediately available for comment.
