The “bromance” between two IT geniuses, who once joined hands to pursue the “best AI,” is now facing a crisis. The conflict between Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, and Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, began with a lawsuit filed by Musk and is intensifying.
Altman, the “father” of generative AI “ChatGPT”, sold his first startup in his 20s at a low price. In contrast, Musk, who was 14 years older than Altman, was the center of attention at the time, announcing plans to launch rockets on Mars.
Their collaboration began in 2015 when Musk provided several million dollars in initial funding for the establishment of OpenAI, a non-profit research institute, which was co-founded by Altman and Musk. However, they had a conflict over the establishment of a for-profit subsidiary in 2018, leading to Musk’s resignation.
The problem escalated when Microsoft (MS) poured billions of dollars into OpenAI. Musk filed a lawsuit on the 1st (local time), alleging that “OpenAI has technically become a subsidiary of MS by accepting their funding,” meaning that they violated the “non-profit contract.”
According to the Wall Street Journal report on the 6th (local time), Altman said in a memo to employees on the day the lawsuit was filed, “Personally, it’s sad.” Altman called Musk his “hero.” He wrote in the memo, “I want to think of Elon as a builder and a person who competes to create better technology, someone who wants to be on our side.”
Contrary to Altman’s hopes, however, OpenAI intends to contest the lawsuit with Musk. OpenAI stated through its blog that it will “act to defend against all legal claims raised by Musk.”
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