OpenAI fires back at Elon Musk bid to block for-profit conversion
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OpenAI says that billionaire Elon Musk is trying to hamstring the organisation as he builds a rival company called xAI.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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SAN FRANCISCO – Earlier in December, billionaire Elon Musk asked a federal court to block OpenAI’s efforts
On Dec 13, OpenAI responded with its own legal filing, arguing that Mr Musk is merely trying to hamstring OpenAI as he builds a rival company called xAI.
What he is asking for will “debilitate OpenAI’s business, board deliberations and mission to create safe and beneficial AI – all to the advantage of Musk and his own AI (artificial intelligence) company”, the filing said.
OpenAI also disputed many of the claims made by Mr Musk in the lawsuit he brought against OpenAI earlier in 2024.
In a blog post published before Dec 13’s filing, OpenAI portrayed Mr Musk as a hypocrite, saying that he had tried to transform the lab from a non-profit into a for-profit operation before he left the organisation six years ago.
The filing and blog post included documents claiming to show that in 2017, Mr Jared Birchall, the head of Mr Musk’s family office, registered a company called Open Artificial Intelligence Technologies that was meant to be a for-profit incarnation of OpenAI.
“His own words and actions speak for themselves,” the company said. “Elon not only wanted, but actually created, a for-profit as OpenAI’s proposed new structure.”
Mr Musk sued OpenAI in March in a state court in San Francisco before withdrawing the suit without explanation. Seven weeks later, he filed a new suit in federal court.
Like the original suit, the federal complaint claimed that OpenAI and two of its founders, Mr Sam Altman and Mr Greg Brockman, breached the company’s founding contract by putting commercial interests ahead of the public good.
Mr Musk has since added new claims to the suit and filed a motion for a preliminary injunction against OpenAI to prevent it from transforming itself into a for-profit.
OpenAI is now trying to restructure itself so that non-profit no longer controls its operations. Mr Musk’s suit aims to block the move. NYTIMES
