Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, on the Hope World Boards annual assembly in Atlanta on Dec. 11, 2023.
Dustin Chambers | Bloomberg | Getty Photos
OpenAI executives disputed claims Elon Musk specified by a lawsuit on Thursday, and stated the Tesla CEO is upset that he is not a part of the synthetic intelligence startup.
“We consider the claims on this swimsuit might stem from Elon’s regrets about not being concerned with the corporate at this time,” wrote OpenAI Chief Technique Officer Jason Kwon in an inner memo on Friday that was considered by CNBC. “It’s deeply disappointing to see Elon take this motion towards an organization he helped begin, particularly given his shut collaboration with a few of you who’re nonetheless right here working in direction of the mission.”
Musk co-founded OpenAI in 2015 and stepped down from its board in 2018, 4 years after saying that AI is “doubtlessly extra harmful than nukes.”
Musk is now suing Microsoft–backed OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman, amongst others, alleging they deserted the corporate’s founding mission to develop synthetic intelligence “for the good thing about humanity broadly.”
Since releasing the ChatGPT chatbot to the general public in late 2022, OpenAI has change into one of many hottest startups on the planet, with a valuation reportedly over $80 billion. The corporate’s convoluted “capped-profit” construction resulted in Altman being briefly ousted by the board late final yr, earlier than an uproar amongst traders and staff led to his fast reinstatement.
Musk has lengthy needed recognition for his central function within the creation of OpenAI, and he spent massive chunks of the lawsuit telling his model of occasions. His attorneys stated within the swimsuit that Musk was approached in 2015 by Altman and OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman and agreed to type a nonprofit lab that might develop synthetic basic intelligence, or AGI, outdoors of the company sphere.
Musk’s attorneys stated their consumer contributed over $15 million to OpenAI in 2016, which was “greater than some other donor” and helped the startup construct a crew of “high expertise.” The following yr, Musk gave practically $20 million to OpenAI, which the attorneys reiterated was greater than different backers. In complete, Musk invested over $44 million into OpenAI from 2016 by way of September 2020, in keeping with the swimsuit.
Moreover, Musk leased OpenAI’s preliminary workplace area “and paid the month-to-month rental bills,” the swimsuit stated. He was additionally “current for essential firm milestones.”
Kwon did not dispute Musk’s central function within the early days of OpenAI, however he added another particulars. For instance, Kwon wrote that Musk at one level indicated he wanted “full preliminary management and majority fairness” and later advised that OpenAI merge with Tesla.
“We didn’t suppose both method was proper for the mission,” Kwon wrote.
Within the memo, Altman known as Musk a hero of his and stated the he misses the outdated model of his co-founder. However he stated the corporate’s mission continues.
Whereas it is the primary time the dispute between the 2 sides has resulted in a fiery lawsuit, they have been at odds for some time.
Earlier than he break up with OpenAI, Tesla employed co-founder Andrej Karpathy as senior director of AI. Karpathy returned to OpenAI in 2023. And Musk has been notably vocal in his opposition to OpenAI and its Microsoft partnership lately, stating publicly in November that OpenAI had deviated from its unique mission.
“OpenAI must be renamed ‘tremendous closed supply for optimum revenue AI,’ as a result of that is what it really is,” Musk stated onstage at The New York Occasions’ DealBook convention. Relating to OpenAI’s transformation from an “open supply basis” to a multibillion-dollar for-profit firm, Musk stated, “I do not know, is that this authorized?”
Kwon insisted on Friday that OpenAI is unbiased and continues to work “to make sure AGI advantages all of humanity.”
Musk’s attorneys did not instantly reply to a request for remark.
— CNBC’s Lora Kolodny and Hayden Area contributed to this report
WATCH: Elon Musk lawsuit towards OpenAI and Altman started a yr in the past
