On the evening of February 29th, local time, Elon Musk filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, its CEO Sam Altman, co-founder and president Greg Brockman, and others, alleging a breach of contract. Musk contends that Altman and OpenAI violated an agreement made at the inception of the artificial intelligence research company, which emphasized the development of technology for the benefit of humanity rather than profit.
Musk's "complaint" spans a lengthy 46 pages, approximately 14,000 words. Within the extensive legal document, he not only criticizes OpenAI for deviating from its original purpose and discloses undisclosed insider details but also asserts ten demands, including seeking compensation for his multimillion-dollar investment and losses, urging OpenAI to revert to open-source practices, and preventing profit generation from general artificial intelligence (AGI) technology by OpenAI and Microsoft.
On March 1st, local time, media outlets such as Bloomberg reported, citing internal memos from OpenAI, that the company's executives refute Musk's reasons for filing the lawsuit. They state that Musk's accusations are unfounded, as OpenAI remains independent, committed to benefiting humanity, and has not yet achieved AGI in its products.
"(Musk's) allegations, including claims that GPT-4 is AGI and that we are effectively a subsidiary of Microsoft, do not reflect the reality of our work or mission," emphasized Jason Wright, Chief Strategic Officer of OpenAI. He stressed that OpenAI "strongly disagrees" with Musk's lawsuit against the company, suggesting Musk's statements may stem from regret over his inability to participate in OpenAI's current operations.
As widely known, Musk was once a co-founder of OpenAI but no longer holds shares in the company. In the lawsuit, he wrote, "To this day, the OpenAI company website still proclaims its mission is to ensure that AGI benefits all of humanity. However, in reality, OpenAI has transformed into a closed-source subsidiary of the tech giant Microsoft."
In response to the situation, OpenAI's CEO Altman stated, "This will never be an easy thing," adding that the "attacks will persist."
