OpenAI, the leading AI startup, announced on Wednesday its intention to reject all claims made by Elon Musk in a recent lawsuit. The company implied that Musk, despite being a co-founder, had minimal influence on its journey and achievements.
In a blog post signed by OpenAI executives Greg Brockman, Ilya Sutskever, John Schulman, Sam Altman, and Wojciech Zaremba, OpenAI disclosed that since its founding in 2015, it had received less than $45 million from Musk, who initially pledged up to $1 billion in funding. The organization has also raised over $90 million from various other donors to bolster its research initiatives.
This response comes in light of Musk's lawsuit, filed last week, which claims that OpenAI violated its original agreements by prioritizing profits over its foundational goal of developing AI for the benefit of humanity. Musk argued that OpenAI was established to act as a competitor to Google.
According to Musk's lawsuit, OpenAI's founding agreement mandated that its technology be "freely available" to the public. However, he contends that the organization has shifted its focus toward maximizing profits for Microsoft instead.
The high-stakes legal conflict between Musk and OpenAI could have significant implications for the future of artificial intelligence. OpenAI, valued at over $80 billion, has surged to prominence with its ChatGPT platform, sparking a competitive AI landscape since its public launch in late 2022. The outcome of this lawsuit may shape the future direction and momentum of AI development, influencing the competitive dynamics among key players in the industry.
Morgan Stanley noted in a recent report that the search for leading application layer winners in the Generative AI race is as intense as the mobile landscape post-iPhone.
In its blog post, OpenAI emphasized that recognizing the immense computational resources needed to achieve artificial general intelligence (AGI)—an AI system exhibiting human-level or greater intelligence—revealed that annual expenditures could reach billions. This insight led to the decision to adopt a for-profit model to secure the essential funding and resources.
Divergences arose between Musk and the other OpenAI co-founders during this transition, as outlined in the blog post, including excerpts from five email exchanges between Musk and OpenAI leadership.
"As we discussed a for-profit model to advance our mission, Elon proposed merging with Tesla or sought full control. Ultimately, he chose to leave OpenAI, stating the need for a relevant competitor to Google/DeepMind, asserting that he would pursue that independently while offering us support in finding our own path," OpenAI noted.
The company referenced an email Musk forwarded in early February 2018, in which he suggested that OpenAI should "attach to Tesla as its cash cow," calling it "exactly right...Tesla is the only path that could even hope to hold a candle to Google."
OpenAI reaffirmed its commitment to ensuring AGI benefits all of humanity, highlighting its ongoing efforts to develop safe and beneficial AI while enabling broad access to its tools. The startup noted its technology is currently empowering communities in places like Kenya and India, enhancing daily lives.
"We're disappointed that it has come to this with someone we have always admired—someone who inspired us to aim higher, then claimed we would fail, launched a competing venture, and subsequently sued us for making meaningful progress towards OpenAI's mission without him," OpenAI stated in the blog post.
In countering Musk's claims that OpenAI has strayed from its open-source principles, the company noted that Musk was aware of and agreed to the planned shift away from complete transparency as progress in AGI development was made.
“Elon understood that our mission did not necessitate open-sourcing AGI. As Ilya explained to him, 'As we get closer to building AI, it will be logical to start being less open. The 'Open' in OpenAI signifies that everyone should benefit from AI's eventual outcomes, though not necessarily sharing the underlying research...' to which Elon responded, 'Yup.'"
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