Billionaire Elon Musk has sued Sam Altman and OpenAI, claiming Altman and others at OpenAI reneged on a deal to use OpenAI to jointly develop a powerful artificial intelligence program that would be open to the public, "for the good of humanity," to counter the AIs being developed by Google and others for profit.
The lawsuit asserts OpenAI instead has essentially given Microsoft control of its AI in exchange for billions of dollars.
Musk filed suit in San Francisco County Superior Court on Feb. 29.
According to the complaint, Musk, who has publicly stated deep concerns for a humanity in a future dominated by artificial intelligence (AI), partnered with Altman and others to develop an AI that they believed could rival those being developed by for-profit corporations, including Google. In contrast with the others, Musk said OpenAI's program was intended to remain open and available to the public, and not under the control of any single organization or group.
However, Musk asserts that after developing GPT-4, OpenAI allegedly blocked out the public, and merely issued press releases boasting about its power and abilities, part of a series of moves Musk alleges set OpenAI's "founding agreement aflame." According to the complaint, OpenAI was also developing a secretive new product, only known as Q.
According to the complaint, last year, the company believed it had achieved its goal of achieving a fully artificial general intelligence (AGI). But this then produced a rift among OpenAI board members over the future of the company and its commercial applicability.
At that point, Altman was forced out from the top spot, along with Gregory Brockman, OpenAI's president, who is also named as a defendant in the action.
According to the complaint, however, Microsoft asserted its control over OpenAI and restored Altman and Brockman to their former positions. They then have allegedly forced out much of the former leadership at OpenAI, including most of its former board and its chief scientist, and have allegedly converted OpenAI into a subsidiary of Microsoft.
OpenAI, the complaint said, "has been transformed into a closed-source de facto subsidiary of the largest technology company in the world: Microsoft. Under its new Board, it is not just developing but is actually refining an AGI to maximize profits for Microsoft, rather than for the benefit of humanity."
The suit accuses OpenAI, Altman and Brockman of violations of breach of contract and violations of California's Unfair Business Practices law, among other claims.
Musk is seeking court orders directing OpenAI to abide by the terms of its founding agreement, and make its technology available to the public, and blocking the company from using its tech for the financial benefit of Microsoft or any of the defendants. They are also seeking a court order declaring GPT-4 and Q constitute AGI, which the complaint contends would specifically block Microsoft from profiting from any OpenAI tech developed since GPT-4 under agreements limiting Microsoft only to rights for pre-AGI tech at OpenAI.
Musk is also seeking unspecified general and punitive damages from the defendants.
Musk is represented in the action by attorneys Morgan Chu, Alan Heinrich, Iian Jablon, Abigail Sellers, Justin Koo and Henry White, from Irell & Manella LLP, of Los Angeles.