Elon Musk Sues OpenAI Over Closed-Source AI Product

Elon Musk accused OpenAI of abandoning its open-source roots following the release of a closed-source AI product.

The billionaire contends that Sam Altman and OpenAI breached an agreement established at the company’s inception to develop technology for the benefit of humanity rather than for profit.

“OpenAI has been transformed into a subsidiary with closed-source code of what is effectively the world’s largest tech company — Microsoft. Under the new board’s leadership, the team is enhancing artificial intelligence to maximize investor profits rather than for the good of humanity,” Musk stated.

He demanded that the company revert to open-source code. Musk also called for a prohibition on the defendants — Microsoft, OpenAI, its president Gregory Brockman, and CEO Sam Altman — from profiting from the firm’s AI technologies.

Artificial general intelligence, developed to operate autonomously at a human cognitive level, was OpenAI’s primary goal. According to Musk, it is realized in GPT-4. 

The model was released in March 2023, but the plaintiff argues it remains closed unlike previous iterations. He claims this move is driven by commercial interests rather than the interests of humanity.

“Contrary to the Founding Agreement, the defendants decided to use GPT-4 not for the benefit of the entire world but as proprietary technology to maximize profits for literally the largest company in the world,” he emphasized.

Musk also highlighted the firing and subsequent reinstatement of Altman as CEO in 2023. He claims the CEO’s removal prompted Microsoft to intervene and force board members to resign. The current board does not consist of scientists and researchers who understand the technology, the plaintiff noted.

The token WLD from Altman’s other project, Worldcoin, reacted to the news with a decline. According to CoinGecko, the asset lost 5.2% over the past day. At the time of writing, the coin is trading above $7.5.

Earlier, The New York Times filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft. In response, the ChatGPT developer accused the publication of fabricating evidence and “hacking” its chatbot.