Elon Musk files lawsuit against OpenAI, CEO for violating contract

Elon Musk files a lawsuit against OpenAI, CEO Sam Altman, and other parties for veering away from the initial purpose of AI to serve the betterment of mankind

Elon Musk has taken legal action against OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman, along with others, claiming that they have strayed from the organization’s original goal of creating artificial intelligence “for the greater good of humanity.” 

In a lawsuit filed in a San Francisco court on Thursday, Musk’s legal team asserted that in 2015, Altman and OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman approached the tech mogul with the idea of establishing a non-profit research lab dedicated to advancing artificial general intelligence for the betterment of society. 

The lawsuit alleges that despite OpenAI’s public commitment to ensuring that artificial general intelligence benefits all of humanity, the organization has now become a proprietary entity closely linked to the world’s largest technology corporation, Microsoft. 

According to Musk’s attorneys, OpenAI’s shift toward prioritizing profits for Microsoft violates the original agreement made with Musk. 

The legal filing claims that under the new leadership, OpenAI is not only developing but also tailoring artificial general intelligence to maximize profits for Microsoft rather than focusing on the welfare of humanity. 

OpenAI and Microsoft have yet to respond to the allegations. 

Musk’s legal team stated that the lawsuit aims to enforce OpenAI’s adherence to the initial agreement and to steer the organization back toward its core mission of developing artificial general intelligence for the benefit of humanity rather than serving the personal interests of the individual defendants and a major technology corporation. 

Although Musk was a co-founder of OpenAI in 2015, he resigned from the board in 2018, expressing concerns about the potential risks associated with AI, which he once likened to being more hazardous than nuclear weapons. 

Source: Newsroom