Elon Musk sues OpenAI, alleging profit over humanity

The lawsuit alleges that CEO Sam Altman’s agreement with Microsoft has violated the organization’s mission

Elon Musk has filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and its CEO, Sam Altman, accusing them of betraying the organization’s foundational mission by prioritizing profit over the benefit of humanity.

As a founding board member of the AI company behind ChatGPT, Musk claims that Altman has disregarded OpenAI’s founding agreement by entering into an investment deal with Microsoft.

The lawsuit, filed in San Francisco, alleges that OpenAI is now focused on developing artificial general intelligence (AGI) for profit, rather than for the betterment of humankind.

The lawsuit claims that “OpenAI Inc. has evolved into a closed-source, effectively a subsidiary of Microsoft, the world’s largest technology company. With its new board, OpenAI is not only developing but refining an AGI to maximize profits for Microsoft, rather than prioritizing the benefit of humanity.”

The lawsuit begins with Musk’s repeated warning about the potential threat posed by AGI to humanity.

“Some, like Mr. Musk, view AGI as an existential threat, while others see it as a means of profit and influence,” the lawsuit stated. It further noted that in the hands of companies driven by profit, such as Google, AGI presents a “particularly severe and harmful threat to humanity.”

Musk and other technology experts are worried that AGI could surpass human control and take actions that jeopardize the planet.

The lawsuit alleges that Altman claimed to share Musk’s apprehensions about AGI and in 2015 suggested establishing a non-profit AI laboratory that would be “the antithesis of Google,” eventually known as OpenAI. Musk, Altman, and Greg Brockman, OpenAI’s president (also named in the lawsuit), agreed to establish a lab whose principles would be outlined in a founding agreement.

The laboratory was intended to be “for the benefit of humanity,” operating as a non-profit organization and utilizing open-source technology, which entails freely sharing the technology.

According to the lawsuit, Musk, who distanced himself from OpenAI in 2018, played a pivotal role in founding OpenAI and provided the majority of its early funding. Following a 2020 agreement, Microsoft is now the largest investor in OpenAI’s profit-driven division, overseen by Altman.

The lawsuit alleges that in 2023, OpenAI, Altman, and Brockman deviated significantly from OpenAI’s original mission by releasing GPT-4, a powerful model that powers OpenAI’s ChatGPT chatbot, while keeping its design secret. This action, according to the lawsuit, effectively disregarded the founding agreement.

The lawsuit argues that this secrecy is primarily driven by commercial interests rather than safety concerns. It accuses OpenAI, Altman, and Brockman of breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, and unfair business practices.

Furthermore, the lawsuit contends that GPT-4 is essentially an AGI technology owned by Microsoft, a situation that allegedly falls outside the scope of the company’s licensing agreement with OpenAI. Additionally, the lawsuit claims that OpenAI is developing a model called Q* (pronounced Q star) that is even more likely to be considered AGI.

The lawsuit further alleges that the series of events in November 2023, including Altman’s dismissal and subsequent reinstatement as OpenAI’s CEO, demonstrated that Microsoft held significant influence over the company. According to the lawsuit, the new board appointed after Altman’s reinstatement lacks the expertise to determine whether OpenAI has achieved AGI and, consequently, whether it has developed a product outside the scope of Microsoft’s license.

The lawsuit is aimed at compelling OpenAI to adhere to the founding agreement and refocus on its mission of developing AGI for the betterment of humanity, rather than for the personal gain of the individual defendants and the world’s largest technology company.

OpenAI’s agreement with Microsoft is under scrutiny by competition authorities in the US, the EU, and the UK.

Brian Quinn, a professor at Boston College Law School in the US, highlighted several issues with the lawsuit. He noted that Musk lacked the standing to sue for breach of the OpenAI board’s certificate of incorporation since he was not a board member. The lawsuit attempts to address this by arguing that a 2015 email exchange between Musk and Altman, outlining the founding agreement and including the certificate, constitutes a contract. Quinn, however, stated that this argument is not legally sound.

A request for the return of the money Musk invested in OpenAI was also unlikely to succeed because the lawsuit alleged that OpenAI deviated from its mission in 2023, well after Musk had ceased supporting the non-profit.

“It’s difficult to see that he has any standing to try to enforce his ‘founding agreement’ or the certificate,” said Quinn.

OpenAI, Microsoft, and Google have been contacted for comment.