OpenAI, the artificial intelligence research startup led by Sam Altman and the maker of ChatGPT, on Friday responded to Elon Musk’s lawsuit, accusing him of trying to create a commercial version of the company in 2017.
OpenAI co-founder Musk has been highly critical of OpenAI’s recent shift to a for-profit model, and in March he sued the AI startup in U.S. federal court for violating its founding mission as a nonprofit organization. filed a lawsuit. For-profit structure.
A blog post by OpenAI on Friday refuted Musk’s claims and revealed that Musk had proposed a for-profit organization for the startup, but walked away without full control. OpenAI’s blog post highlighted that Musk initially supported a for-profit model, but later opposed the company’s transition to a nonprofit status. Musk’s recent legal action against them was motivated by competition from his AI company, xAI, founded in 2023.
Musk’s concerns about OpenAI’s nonprofit model date back to 2015, and he proposed a merger between OpenAI and Tesla in 2018. However, Musk resigned from OpenAI’s board following disagreements, and OpenAI subsequently moved to a “restricted profit” model in 2019 and is now working towards becoming a fully for-profit public benefit corporation. .
US online news platform Money Report reported on Friday, citing OpenAI’s blog post. In a November 2015 email to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Musk wrote that OpenAI’s “structure appears to be suboptimal,” according to a screenshot shared in a blog post. “Taking a salary from a nonprofit confuses incentive alignment,” he said, adding, “It’s probably better to have a nonprofit parallel to a standard C corporation.”
In a text conversation with former board member Sivon Gillis, OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman said that the conversation with Musk “turned into a conversation about structure,” and that Musk said, “I wanted to be quick.” “I said at the stage that non-profits are absolutely correct, but that may not be the case.” Be the right person now,” Money Report wrote, citing the OpenAI blog.
Musk filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft in 2023, accusing them of anti-competitive practices. His legal team argues that OpenAI’s structure, including its relationship with Microsoft, harms competitors such as xAI. OpenAI’s valuation has soared to $157 billion, largely due to the success of ChatGPT, and it faces increasing competition from Musk’s xAI and other tech giants. The legal battle between Musk and OpenAI continues to escalate, with Musk seeking to prevent OpenAI from profiting from what he claims is confidential information shared through a partnership with Microsoft.
