Elon Musk Suing Open AIAlleging that the company has strayed from its mission of growth. Artificial intelligence “For the benefit of humanity at large,” but some experts doubt its chances of prevailing.
Issue
In a ___ Trial In a filing Thursday (February 29) in a San Francisco court, Musk’s legal team asserted that in 2015 the CEO of OpenAI Sam Altman and Co-Founder, President and Chairman Greg Brockman approached a tech billionaire, leading to a deal to create a non-profit laboratory to develop Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) for the betterment of humanity.
AGI research seeks to create software with human-like intelligence and the ability to teach itself. Musk, who helped launch OpenAI in 2015, left the board in 2018. He previously warned about the dangers of AI in 2014, suggesting it could be more dangerous than nuclear weapons.
“Until today, OpenAI, Inc.’s website has continued to claim that its charter is to ensure that AGI ‘benefits all of humanity,'” the lawsuit said. “In reality, however, OpenAI, Inc. has been turned into a closed-source de facto subsidiary of the world’s largest technology company: Microsoft.”
Musk’s lawsuit alleges that OpenAI, along with Altman and Brockman, reneged on its initial commitments in 2023. GPT-4The technology that powers the company Chat GPT Chatbot, hiding its architecture. According to the lawsuit, this approach signaled a departure from their core goal of transparency and commitment to benefiting humanity.
PYMNTS reached out to OpenAI on Friday (March 1) for comment on the lawsuit but did not receive a response.
Seth Kugler, An attorney based in Cupertino, California Girls Shah LLP who focuses on corporate governance and AI, told PYMNTS in an interview that it would be “very difficult” for Musk to prove the lawsuit’s argument that OpenAI abandoned its original mission because it replaced GPT-4. Licensed and owned elements.
“To prove that this is infringement, Musk must show that GPT-4 is artificial general intelligence,” Kugler said. “AGI is an artificial intelligence that can perform a wide range of tasks as well or better than a human. Accordingly, it can teach itself to perform new tasks outside of its original training—basically A complete substitute for advanced human intelligence.
Reputational risks
Some observers say Musk’s lawsuit could potentially hurt OpenAI even if it fails. Madhu SidhakarCEO of an AI firm Iseratold PYMNTS in an interview that the lawsuit could affect OpenAI’s dominance in the field, as legal battles could divert resources and tarnish its reputation, making it difficult to attract talent and investment. ability may be affected.
“There are likely to be concerns from the consumer side as well,” Sudhakar said. “They were already upset by the suddenness and the temporary. Altman’s dismissal last year.”
But Sidhakar said some of Musk’s allegations may have merit. He noted that towards OpenAI a Profitability model And governance issues have raised questions about its commitment to its original nonprofit mission of safe AI development.
“The complicated nonprofit structure basically drove the mess with Altman last year,” he said. “However, this may be even more problematic with Musk as he was the founder and financial backer of OpenAI. He also appears to have evidence, such as emails. More importantly, Musk has seemingly endless There are financial resources involved. He also has a vested interest in wanting his own AI system to gain more traction.
The legal action marks another controversy in the series of issues surrounding OpenAI. one Inquiry by the Federal Trade Commission Launched in January, it will allow for a closer review of inter-agency contracts. Microsoft, Google, Amazon and AI providers, helping to understand how these deals affect competition. Microsoft is one of the backers of OpenAI.
Kugler noted that the government has not been used to large-scale antitrust actions in the tech space recently.
“However, politics can play a role here, and anything can happen, especially if Congress and their constituencies become concerned enough about the threat posed by AI,” he said.
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