From Friends to Enemies, Elon Musk and Sam Altman’s Lawsuit

   On February 29, Tesla CEO Elon Musk filed a lawsuit against Sam Altman and OpenAI, alleging that, “Sam Altman gave up the mission of OpenAI to develop AI for universal profits.” Musk asserted that OpenAI shifted its focus toward corporate profits under Microsoft (MS), despite its initial commitment to advancing AI for human benefits. 

▲ Tesla CEO Elon Musk and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman (Photo from The Joongang)

   Elon Musk wrote on the petition that he agreed to set up a non-profit company for the benefit of humanity with Altman and Greg Brockman when he founded OpenAI. However, he alleged that OpenAI strayed from its original mission as a non-profit focused on benefiting humanity. According to Musk, the company pursued commercialization and partnered with Microsoft for profit, which he claims violated their initial agreements. Musk resigned from the board in 2018 due to these concerns. His lawsuit seeks to hold OpenAI accountable for breaching contracts, fiduciary duty, and engaging in unfair business practices. He demands the public release of all research and acquired funds stemming from these alleged breaches. On this, OpenAI explained to employees that Elon Musk was jealous to see the company doing well. Meanwhile, on March 11, Musk continued to pressure Altman saying he would open-source the AI chatbot ‘Grok’, which was developed jointly by OpenAI and xAI (an AI startup founded by Musk last year).

▲ A Conversation Between OpenAI Co-founders Elon Musk and Sam Altman in 2016 (Photo from the Dong-A Ilbo)

   The ongoing debate about whether AI should serve the universal good or primarily benefit individual private companies has intensified, particularly within the context of Silicon Valley. In November 2023, Altman faced expulsion from the board of directors but eventually reclaimed his position due to pressure exerted by Microsoft and other parties. This incident is claimed to be resulted from the board’s dissatisfaction with Altman’s excessive pursuit of profits. And over the past few years, Musk has maintained a stance warning that if AI is not developed properly, it could have fatal consequences for humanity. Considerable attention has been surrounding the potential repercussions of this lawsuit on Altman and Microsoft, both of which have recently garnered substantial investments and are currently under scrutiny from various investigations domestically and internationally.