Elon Musk Sues OpenAI and CEO Over Mission Deviation

Elon Musk sues OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman, accusing them of straying from the startup's original mission of developing artificial intelligence for the benefit of humanity.

The lawsuit, filed in San Francisco last week, marks the climax of Musk's longstanding concerns over OpenAI's direction, as the company shifted its focus towards profitability.

Musk alleged a breach of contract, saying Altman and co-founder Greg Brockman originally approached him to make an open source, non-pr ofit company, but the startup established in 2015 is now focused on making money.

Recounting OpenAI's founding, Musk said the three men had agreed to work on artificial general intelligence (AGI), a concept that machines could handle tasks like a human, but in a way that would "benefit humanity", according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit highlights Musk's belief that OpenAI's shift mirrors Google's pursuit of AGI for financial gains, posing significant risks. Musk accuses OpenAI of betraying their founding principles by releasing GPT-4, a powerful language model, as essentially a Microsoft product.

Seeking to uphold the original vision of OpenAI, Musk aims for a court ruling that would require the startup to share its research and technology with the public. He also seeks to prevent OpenAI from exploiting its assets, such as GPT-4, for Microsoft's financial interests or individual gain.

- CyberBeat