Elon Musk Sues OpenAI for Breaking Non-Profit Charter, Puts Profit Before Humanity

Tuesday - March 12 2024, 06:34 UTC - 1 year ago

Elon Musk has filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and its former CEO Sam Altman for betraying the company's original non-profit mission and putting profits before humanity. OpenAI, which was meant for the betterment of society, has now become a for-profit company and charges for its advanced AI services, going against its original goal of providing open access. This lawsuit highlights the concerns about the commercialization of AI and the need for ethical implementation of advanced technology.

In 2015, Elon Musk co-founded OpenAI, a non-profit artificial intelligence research company with the aim of developing advanced AI for the betterment of humanity. At the time, Musk and other leaders, such as former CEO Sam Altman, stated that OpenAI would be a non-profit company and all research and technology would be open-source and open to the public.

However, in 2020, OpenAI surprised many by licensing its advanced AI model, GPT-3, and its pre-AGI technology to tech giant Microsoft. This move gave Microsoft access to OpenAI's critical internal weights, allowing them to use the AI for their own projects. It was also revealed that OpenAI had become a for-profit company, with plans to release GPT-4 as a paid subscription service.

Elon Musk, who had donated large sums of money to support OpenAI's non-profit mission, was not happy with this change. He recently filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and Sam Altman for breaking their non-profit charter and putting profits before the company's original mission.

The lawsuit alleges that by allowing non-profits like OpenAI to convert to for-profit companies, investors can exploit the system by investing in the non-profit phase for tax deductions and then profiting from the company later on. This essentially doubles the investment dollars of the company and goes against the original intention of non-profits.

Musk's lawsuit is not only about enforcing OpenAI's founding mission but also seeking damages for the breach of trust. OpenAI was originally meant to provide open access to its advanced AI services, but now charges a monthly subscription fee of $20. This would mean billions of people would not have access to the AI, which goes against OpenAI's original goal of using AI for the betterment of humanity.

In 2015, Elon Musk and Sam Altman spoke about their vision for OpenAI and the importance of putting ethics and humanity before profits. Musk stated, "We need to be very careful about AI, it's potentially more dangerous than nukes." Altman added, "To ensure that we have a good future for humanity, we need to explore and build amazing AI to solve the world's problems." However, it seems that the shift to a for-profit model has caused the company to lose sight of this original vision, leading to Musk's lawsuit.

In the end, this lawsuit highlights the growing concerns about the commercialization of AI and the potential disregard for ethical principles and the betterment of society. Elon Musk's efforts to hold OpenAI accountable for their actions serve as a reminder that companies should not prioritize profits over humanity, especially when it comes to advanced technology with the potential to greatly impact our world.