Musk Suing OpenAI for Abandoning Founding Mission

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Mar 01, 2024

Image copyright: Omar Marques/Stringer/Getty Images News via Getty Imagesstory last updated Mar 03

The Facts

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk on Thursday filed a lawsuit against OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and his company for allegedly abandoning their mission to develop artificial intelligence "for the benefit of humanity."
Musk was a co-founder of OpenAI in 2015 but stepped down from its board after calling AI "potentially more dangerous than nukes."

The Spin

Narrative A

Musk's criticism of OpenAI is 100% right. OpenAI has branded itself as a company that will responsibly lead the world into the AI generation in the safest way possible, but it has become beholden to Microsoft. Altman has seemingly thrown his convictions away in order to benefit Microsoft financially and Musk is holding him accountable.

Bloomberg

Narrative B

This suit is not in good faith and Musk is wrong for criticizing OpenAI for chasing profits at the same time he's creating his own for-profit AI venture. He's using this lawsuit as part of a dispute with former OpenAI co-founders, which suggests this legal action is less about the future of AI technology.