The ongoing feud between Elon Musk and OpenAI has taken a new turn as the influential artificial intelligence research lab has responded to Musk’s lawsuit with some explosive allegations. In its first public comments on the matter, OpenAI claimed that Musk had attempted to turn the nonprofit lab into a for-profit operation before his departure in 2018.
According to a blog post published by OpenAI, Musk, along with other founders including Sam Altman and Greg Brockman, initially intended to raise around $100 million for the lab. However, Musk insisted on telling the press and public that they were raising $1 billion, with him providing the additional funds if needed.
Despite Musk’s efforts, the nonprofit only managed to raise less than $45 million from Musk and over $90 million from other donors. OpenAI stated that in early 2017, Musk and other leaders realized that the lab would need billions of dollars per year to achieve its goal of developing artificial general intelligence (A.G.I.).
As discussions progressed, Musk reportedly demanded a majority of the equity in the company, initial board control, and the position of chief executive. When the other founders disagreed, citing concerns that giving one person absolute control would go against the organization’s mission, Musk suggested attaching OpenAI to his electric car company, Tesla.
Musk’s lawsuit against OpenAI and its CEO, Sam Altman, accuses them of prioritizing profits and commercial interests over the original mission of building A.I. for the public good. He claims that the lab’s partnership with Microsoft led to a departure from its commitment to developing A.I. technology and sharing it openly with the public.
OpenAI’s blog post also included an email in which Musk acknowledged the need to withhold A.G.I. technology as it nears completion to prevent potential harm. The company intends to move to dismiss all claims in Musk’s lawsuit, setting the stage for a legal battle that could have significant implications for the future of artificial intelligence research.
