Elon Musk, formerly of Twitter, sued OpenAI, the founder of the artificial intelligence bot ChatGPT.
Musk was quoted as thinking that they betrayed the agreement to develop the AI company in a way that would benefit humanity rather than profit from its inception.
In the lawsuit filed Thursday night in San Francisco Superior Court, Musk claims that OpenAI’s recent relationship with tech giant Microsoft jeopardizes the company’s commitment to open source artificial general intelligence (AGI).
“WORKING TO BOOST MICROSOFT’S PROFITS”
“OpenAI has been turned into a de facto closed-source subsidiary of the world’s largest technology company, Microsoft. Under its new board of directors, it is working to maximize Microsoft’s profits rather than the benefit of humanity.”
Musk is bringing claims against OpenAI for breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty and unfair trade practices, and wants the company to return to open source.
REQUEST FOR INJUNCTION AGAINST MICROSOFT
Musk is also seeking an injunction against OpenAI, its chairman Gregory Brockman and CEO Sam Altman, as well as Microsoft to prevent the company from profiting from artificial general intelligence technology.
GPT-4 PERFORMS AT THE LEVEL OF HUMANS
Artificial general intelligence, a type of artificial intelligence developed to perform autonomously at the cognitive level of humans, has been the main goal of OpenAI, and according to Musk, this performance has been demonstrated in GPT-4.
GPT-4 was launched in March 2023, but unlike previous models, it remained a closed model, a move driven by commercial considerations rather than the interest of humanity, according to Musk.
GPT-4 IS NOT BEING USED FOR THE BENEFIT OF HUMANITY”
“Microsoft could make a fortune selling GPT-4 to the public. This will not be possible if OpenAI makes the technology freely available to the public, as it should. Contrary to the Founding Agreement, Defendants have chosen to use GPT-4 not for the benefit of humanity, but as a proprietary technology to maximize the profits of literally the largest corporation in the world.”
“MICROSOFT FORCES OPENAI BOARD TO RESIGN”
Musk also mentioned Altman’s firing and subsequent reinstatement as CEO in 2023.
Billionaire Elon says Altman’s ouster prompted Microsoft to step in and force the resignation of board members who tried to oust him.
CLAIM THEY DON’T UNDERSTAND TECHNOLOGY
Musk claims that the current board members are no longer scientists and researchers who support and understand the technology.
“OpenAI has replaced the company’s once carefully crafted non-profit structure with a for-profit CEO and a Board of Directors with insufficient technical expertise in AGI and AI public policy. There is now only an observer seat on the board reserved for Microsoft.”
Musk, who was OpenAI’s first board member but left in 2018, was said to be concerned that the conflict between the board and Altman could jeopardize the development of GPT-4 and Musk’s public safety.
MICROSOFT CLAIMS RIGHTS OVER GPT-4
Microsoft, which was not named as a defendant in the lawsuit, obtained an exclusive license to OpenAI’s GPT-3 language model in 2020.
The US tech company continues to lay claim to GPT-4, which it claims has not reached the AGI level that would preclude licensing privileges.
Musk claims that Microsoft’s retention of Altman and the OpenAI board will prevent them from declaring GPT-4 as an artificial general intelligence to keep the technology private and profitable.
