Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk, now owner of X (previously Twitter), has sued OpenAI.
Musk, a co-founder and early investor in OpenAI, claims the company has breached its original values by prioritising technology commercialisation over its non-profit purpose to serve humanity. Intriguingly, this lawsuit follows ChatGPT’sp success and OpenAI’s Sora video-generating approach.
OpenAI, a non-profit research corporation founded in late 2015, aims to make AI technology development safe and ethical. Musk, worried about unchecked AI development, was a founding member and early investor.
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Legal action targets OpenAI’s for-profit agenda
It’s mainly about OpenAI’s move to a for-profit plan and its close relationship with tech giant Microsoft, which is at the centre of the lawsuit. The CEO of OpenAI, Sam Altman, was recently fired and then reinstated as CEO, according to Musk. Altman is said to have changed the company’s goal from ethical AI to a more profit-oriented business meant to help Microsoft.
Opening AI’s newest and most advanced language model, GPT-4, is at the centre of the case. Musk says that GPT-4 is like artificial general intelligence (AGI), a level of AI intelligence that is as smart as or more intelligent than humans. Despite deals that AGI research should stay non-profit, he says OpenAI and Microsoft are going about commercialising GPT-4.
Musk’s exit from OpenAI’s board suggested years of increasing tension. The lawsuit alleges that Microsoft and commercial direction conflicts contributed to it. Musk claims that OpenAI’s board focused more on business than ethics, justifying a board restructure.
Musk wants OpenAI to return to its fundamental objective through the lawsuit. He wants the court to stop OpenAI from selling non-profit technologies and determine that AGI systems like GPT-4 should not be licenced commercially. Musk may even demand reimbursement for his large payments, claiming OpenAI is now for profit.
The complaint has significant consequences for AI development. It highlights essential problems concerning AI research ethics, profit vs. public benefit, and unregulated AGI. This court case could change AI development, requiring businesses like OpenAI to balance ethics and public duty.