Elon Musk Litigates Against OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman on The Microsoft Agreement

Elon Musk asserts that Altman prioritizes profits over foundational commitments.

Elon Musk is suing OpenAI and its CEO, Sam Altman, regarding OpenAI's recent collaboration with Microsoft. Musk contends that Altman perpetrated fraud against him during the co-founding of the company in 2015. This follows Musk's retraction of a previous lawsuit in June about the company's purported prioritization of revenues over the foundational agreement of AI development "for the benefit of humanity."

The current lawsuit claims that OpenAI has forsaken its original non-profit objective, in which Musk invested, by using its recent exclusive partnership with Microsoft, granting access to the advanced AI model GPT-4. He asserts that the corporation guaranteed to prioritize “safety and transparency for the benefit of humanity, rather than shareholder value,” leading to his $45 million USD investment.

Subsequent to Musk's departure from OpenAI's board in 2018, Altman purportedly redirected the company's emphasis towards profit-driven ventures, including the establishment of OpenAI, L.P. The lawsuit claims that the firm established a "corporate network to exploit the non-profit's assets for profit."

The lawsuit asserts, “The nonprofit's 2022 IRS tax return indicated revenue of only $44,485.00, yet one year later, OpenAI purportedly generated hundreds of millions of dollars.”

As AI rapidly advances and produces hyper-realistic material, producers may face significant losses. Marc Toberoff, one of Musk's attorneys, contends that if entities such as OpenAI and Microsoft dominate artificial intelligence, other producers will persistently face exploitation and exclusion. He asserts, “This case transcends monetary concerns; the future of AGI is at stake.”

Following Musk's recent discord with OpenAI, he established xAI last year, which achieved a valuation of $24 billion USD.