Is Elon Musk upset about the success of OpenAI, in which he invested?
Foreign media such as Fortune and CNBC reported on the status and prospects of the lawsuit between Elon Musk and OpenAI on the 6th.
Last week, Musk, the CEO of Tesla, SpaceX, X (formerly Twitter), and xAI sued Sam Altman and Greg Brockman, co-founders of OpenAI, for breach of contract and fiduciary duty.
Most experts on this lawsuit point out that the legal basis of the case is not clear because the core of the lawsuit, the contract, is not a formal written agreement signed by all relevant parties.
Musk initially invested in the non-profit OpenAI team to encourage AI development for “the benefit of mankind.” Still, Microsoft, the major shareholder, mainly controls OpenAI, which has transformed into a for-profit corporation.
Musk expressed his position through a 35-page complaint last Friday, reminding his role in creating one of the most popular startups on the planet.
In particular, Musk emphasizes through this lawsuit that OpenAI should return to being a “lab” and should no longer exist for Microsoft’s financial benefit. In the complaint, Musk also claims that OpenAI has virtually transformed into a private source subsidiary of Microsoft, the world’s largest tech company.
The complaint also pointed out that it violated the founding contract signed with Musk, a central investor in the early days of OpenAI, and the corporate establishment certification in 2015. According to the lawsuit, Musk invested over $44 million in OpenAI from 2016 to September 2020.
This lawsuit aligns with Musk’s past behavior pattern of frequently posting about his importance in founding OpenAI on X and commenting in public forums. Last November, Musk was criticized at the New York Times DealBook Summit, telling the audience that “OpenAI has deviated from its original mission” and “OpenAI should change its name to ‘Super Closed Source for Maximum Profit AI.”
Musk has also publicly criticized Microsoft. Last May, Musk’s lawyer claimed that Microsoft had used X’s data without permission.
However, experts point out that just because the purpose of OpenAI’s corporate operation has changed, it does not mean that Musk has a solid legal basis.
It is observed that Musk, who owns over $200 billion, would be indifferent to the legal costs of filing a questionable lawsuit with uncertainty of personal benefits. There is a criticism that he uses meaningless lawsuits to attract attention.
In response to this lawsuit, OpenAI stated in a blog post on its website, “Musk has been fiercely criticizing us after he tried and failed to make OpenAI part of Tesla.”
OpenAI also said, “It’s sad that this is happening with someone we deeply respected” and “He inspired us to aim higher but told us we would fail, and then he sued us when we began to make meaningful progress after declaring ourselves competitors.”
Kevin O’Brien, a partner at Ford O’Brien Landy and a former lawyer, described the lawsuit as “definitely good advertising for Elon Musk’s benefit” and said, “The legal part is unclear.” He emphasized, “One notable thing is that this lawsuit has no contract.”
Shannon Capone Kirk, global head of the AI division at Ropes & Gray, speculated, “Musk may be trying to force more information about how OpenAI operates and how its business goals have changed over the past few years into the public domain through this lawsuit.”
She said, “This lawsuit is a significant event in terms of public interest,” and predicted, “As a result, everyone might be able to use OpenAI.”
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