Elon Musk sues OpenAI, renewing claims ChatGPT-maker put profits before ‘the benefit of humanity’

By: Sarah Parvini, The Associated Press Posted: 2:00 PM CDT Monday, Aug. 5, 2024 Last Modified: 9:21 PM CDT Monday, Aug. 5, 2024

Advertise with us

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Elon Musk filed a lawsuit on Monday against OpenAI and two of its founders, Sam Altman and Greg Brockman, renewing claims that the ChatGPT-maker betrayed its founding aims of benefiting the public good rather than pursuing profits.

Read this article for free:

or

Already have an account? Log in here »

To continue reading, please subscribe:

*Billed as $4.00 plus GST every four weeks. After 24 weeks, price increases to the regular rate of $19.00 plus GST every four weeks. Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.

*Billed as $19 plus GST every four weeks. Cancel any time.

Read unlimited articles for free today:

or

Already have an account? Log in here »

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 05/08/2024 (428 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The lawsuit, filed in a Northern California federal court, called Musk’s case a “textbook tale of altruism versus greed.” Altman and others named in the suit “intentionally courted and deceived Musk, preying on Musk’s humanitarian concern about the existential dangers posed by artificial intelligence,” according to the complaint.

Musk was an early investor in OpenAI when it was founded in 2015 and co-chaired its board alongside Altman. In the lawsuit, he said he invested “tens of millions” of dollars and recruited top AI research scientists for OpenAI. Musk resigned from the board in early 2018 in a move that OpenAI said — at the time — would prevent conflicts of interest as he was recruiting AI talent to build self-driving technology at the electric car maker.

FILE - The OpenAI logo appears on a mobile phone in front of a computer screen with random binary data, March 9, 2023, in Boston. San Francisco-based OpenAI said Thursday, July 25, 2024, it is releasing a preview of the SearchGPT to a small group of users and publishers for feedback. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer, File)

The Tesla CEO dropped his previous lawsuit against OpenAI without explanation in June. That lawsuit alleged that when Musk bankrolled OpenAI’s creation, he secured an agreement with Altman and Brockman to keep the AI company as a nonprofit that would develop technology for the benefit of the public and keep its code open.

“As we said about Elon’s initial legal filing, which was subsequently withdrawn, Elon’s prior emails continue to speak for themselves,” a spokesperson for OpenAI said in an emailed statement. In March, OpenAI released emails from Musk showing his earlier support for making it a for-profit company.