Elon Musk sues ChatGPT creator OpenAI, arguing it has failed to ‘benefit humanity’

Mr Musk helped found OpenAI at its outset – but has expressed concern at his direction since

Musk Vs OpenAI (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

Elon Musk is suing ChatGPT creator OpenAI, arguing that it has failed in its mission to “benefit humanity”.

Mr Musk was one of the co-founders of OpenAI, and helped shape its original mission to make its work available to the public and develop with a view to the greater good. But in recent months he has been increasingly critical of the company and its chief executive Sam Altman, arguing that it had abandoned that commitment.

Mr Musk alleged a breach of contract, saying Mr Altman and co-founder Greg Brockman originally approached him to make an open source, non-profit company, but the startup established in 2015 is now focused on making money.

Recounting OpenAI‘s founding, Mr Musk said the three men had agreed to work on artificial general intelligence (AGI), a concept that machines could handle tasks like a human, but in a way that would “benefit humanity”, according to the lawsuit.

OpenAI would also work in opposition to Google, which Mr Musk believed was developing AGI for profit and would pose grave risks.

Instead, OpenAI “set the founding agreement aflame” in 2023 when it released its most powerful language model GPT-4 as essentially a Microsoft product, the lawsuit alleged.

Musk has sought a court ruling that would compel OpenAI to make its research and technology available to the public and prevent the startup from using its assets, including GPT-4, for the financial gains of Microsoft or any individual.

The billionaire is also seeking a ruling that GPT-4 and a new and more advanced technology called Q* would be considered AGI and therefore outside of Microsoft’s license to OpenAI.

Musk, who runs Tesla and rocket maker SpaceX and bought Twitter for $44 billion in October 2022, stepped down from OpenAI‘s board in 2018 and has on several occasions called for regulation on AI.

Additional reporting by agencies