Elon Musk has filed a lawsuit on Thursday against OpenAI claiming that the company has now prioritized profits over the "benefit of humanity." Musk was an original founder of the company in 2015 alongside Sam Altman and Greg Brockman. He stepped down as co-chair in 2018 and began to reduce financial contributions to the project. Musk, Altman, and Brockman originally agreed to take a nonprofit approach with OpenAI. The founders' goal was to create a nonprofit opponent to Google's AI projects.
In 2019, Microsoft became a major investor, and has around a 49% stake in the earnings OpenAI generates. Musk's lawsuit states that "OpenAI, Inc. has been transformed into a closed-source de facto subsidiary of the largest technology company in the world." Musk is suing OpenAI for breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, and unfair business practices. The suit itself is valued at around $80 billion.
Musk has repeatedly stated that wrongful AI development would have "catastrophic consequences for humanity." Last year, Musk started his own AI company X.AI to now oppose OpenAI. The lawsuit raises important questions about society's concerns with the modern advances in AI. Musk seems to be one of the few in Big Tech that are voicing concerns of AI's dangers.
https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/elon-musk-sues-openai-sam-altman-for-breach-of-contract-0864979d?mod=hp_lead_pos1
3 comments:
Im curious to know what exactly is in the contract Musk is referring to, as the accusations don't seem inherently criminal at face value (Milton Friedman would certainly have no problem with a company pursuing profits over "the benefit of humanity" so it really seems to hinge on that breach on contract accusation
It's really concerning to see how much OpenAI has shifted away from benefiting humanity. And we can only imagine how dangerous it can become if we lose control completely. Musks concerns about AI's potential dangers are valid, i'm curious to see how this lawsuit goes.
Though it is possible that OpenAI is making its profits a priority, it'll be interesting to see how Elon Musk is going to portray this case since they are not technically doing anything illegal.
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