OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has finally discussed the ongoing lawsuit with Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, sharing his perspective on the lawsuit and the events that led to it.
What Happened: In the latest episode of the Lex Fridman Podcast posted on Monday, Altman discussed the lawsuit, which accuses the ChatGPT parent of deviating from its original mission of creating responsible AI.
Altman said that OpenAI initially started as a research lab with no plans for commercialization. However, as the technology evolved, the company had to adapt and make decisions that may seem questionable in hindsight.
He also addressed Musk’s motivations behind the lawsuit, stating, “In terms of what Elon's real motivations here are, I don't know,” adding that the company’s response to Musk’s allegations was a factual account of the events.
The CEO also discussed the personal aspect of the lawsuit, stating that Musk chose to part ways with OpenAI due to differences in the company’s direction. The tech billionaire wanted OpenAI to be acquired by Tesla, a proposal that they did not agree with.
He also touched on the issue of open-source technology, which is a key part of OpenAI’s mission, highlighting the importance of providing powerful AI tools to the public for free or at a low cost.
“One of the things that I think OpenAI is doing that is the most important of everything that we're doing is putting powerful technology in the hands of people for free, as a public good,” Altman said, adding, “We don't run ads on our free version. We don't monetize it in other ways. We just say it's part of our mission. We want to put increasingly powerful tools in the hands of people for free and get them to use them.”
When Fridman asked about Musk’s comment “Change your name to ClosedAI and I'll drop the lawsuit,” Altman said, “I think that speaks to the seriousness with which Elon means the lawsuit, and that's like an astonishing thing to say, I think.”
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He went on to say, “I mean Grok had not open-sourced anything until people pointed out it was a little bit hypocritical and then he announced that Grok will open-source things this week. I don't think open source versus not is what this is really about for him.”
Previously, Deepwater Asset Management’s managing partner Doug Clinton also shared similar sentiments suggesting that Musk had to open-source Grok because of the lawsuit. “I think he sort of had to do it given the lawsuit with OpenAI to make a statement.”
Why It Matters: The lawsuit filed by Musk against OpenAI has been a topic of significant interest in the tech industry. Musk has accused OpenAI of deviating from its original mission and working to maximize profits for Microsoft Corporation MSFT, which he claims is a betrayal of the company’s founding principles.
It was previously reported that OpenAI has refuted his claims regarding the existence of a “founding agreement” for the company's non-profit status and the non-disclosure of source code.
"The Founding Agreement is instead a fiction Musk has conjured to lay unearned claim to the fruits of an enterprise he initially supported, then abandoned, then watched succeed without him,” the ChatGPT maker stated in a document submitted with California’s superior court for San Francisco County.
Earlier it was also revealed that Musk, who co-founded OpenAI in 2015 and left it in 2018, once suggested that the company’s only path to compete with Alphabet Inc.‘s Google was through a merger with Tesla. However, his proposal wasn't met with much enthusiasm and he left the AI startup.
“Tesla is the only path that could even hope to hold a candle to Google,” he said in a 2018 email to Ilya Sutskever, according to the documents shared by OpenAI in a blog post.
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Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of Benzinga Neuro and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
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