In a lawsuit filed in a San Francisco court, Elon Musk is suing OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman, among others, alleging that they have deviated from the company’s original mission to develop artificial intelligence (AI) “for the benefit of humanity broadly.”
The lawsuit claims that Elon Musk was approached in 2015 to form a non-profit lab focusing on developing artificial general intelligence (AGI) to benefit humanity. Musk, a co-founder of OpenAI in 2015, stepped down from the board in 2018, expressing concerns about the potential dangers of AI.
The lawsuit contends that OpenAI, despite professing on its website to ensure AGI benefits all of humanity, has become a closed-source subsidiary of Microsoft, the largest technology company globally.
Elon Musk (Credits: Axios)
Musk’s lawyers argue that OpenAI’s current focus on maximizing profits for Microsoft violates the initial agreement, accusing the company of refining AGI for the benefit of Microsoft rather than humanity.
The legal action reflects Musk’s concerns about the trajectory of OpenAI and its alignment with Microsoft’s profit-driven interests. OpenAI and Microsoft have not yet provided comments on the lawsuit.
The legal dispute sheds light on the challenges and ethical considerations surrounding the development and control of advanced AI technologies and the potential conflicts between profit-driven motives and the broader goals of ensuring AI benefits humanity.
