Elon Musk has increased his legal fight against OpenAI, asking a court to stop the company from changing to a for-profit structure. Musk says this change is “illegal” and worries that OpenAI’s ChatGPT could take over the artificial intelligence market, hurting other companies, including his own AI startup, xAI.
Musk helped start OpenAI in 2015 as a nonprofit organization, but now he says the company and its CEO, Sam Altman, have given up their nonprofit goals. He believes that OpenAI accepting billions of dollars from Microsoft in 2019 showed a shift towards making money, moving away from its original goal of using AI to help society.
OpenAI has said Musk’s claims are not true and has repeated its promise to be innovative and open. The company is now talking with the California attorney general’s office about its plans to change its business structure.
Musk’s request also seeks to prevent OpenAI from making special deals with investors, which he believes are unfair to competition. While he is taking on OpenAI, Musk is also working on his own AI company, xAI, which started in 2023 and is now worth $50 billion.
The legal fight between Musk and OpenAI brings up concerns about OpenAI’s dedication to helping society and its move towards making a profit. Bret Taylor, who leads OpenAI’s nonprofit board, has promised that the nonprofit part will still be important in any new structure.
