Elon Musk, the chief executive officer of Tesla, has made an appeal to a court in the United States, seeking to restrain the transformation of OpenAI into a profit-oriented entity, CNBC reported. This AI chatbot, aptly named ChatGPT, has been developed by OpenAI, an entity that happens to have Musk’s imprint on it. Musk’s AI startup, xAI, and him took their legal pleas to the court in the form of an injunction, filed on Friday. Their attempt is to prevent any possible hindrance which OpenAI may cause to its investors when it comes to backing up competing firms.
This legal tussle marks yet another episode of the ongoing corporate dispute between the technology titan, Musk and his brainchild, OpenAI. Musk doesn’t hold a position in OpenAI anymore, nevertheless, he was one of its founding members back in 2015. OpenAI was initially envisioned and established as a non-profit entity. However, its business model has now evolved into a capped for-profit organization.
The company seems to have set an ambitious plan for its future. It is eyeing a transition to become a full-fledged for-profit public benefit corporation. This strategic business reform, once successfully implemented, can pave the way for an increase in investment influx for the tech firm.
However, Musk emancipated himself from OpenAI in 2018, expressing his disagreement with the profit-centric approach the company was steadily adopting. His discomfort was apparent with the business route OpenAI was heading towards, given that it was straying away from its foundational non-profit ethos.
Musk, unsettled by this shift, brought a legal case against OpenAI in March. His lawsuit challenges the company’s deviation from their initial mission, which was to propagate AI research for the wider consumption of all. The erstwhile founder viewed this as a violation, as OpenAI was moving away from their fundamental pledge of keeping AI research accessible and inclusive.
OpenAI, on the other hand, holds a different perspective on this whole scenario. It perceives the lawsuit filed by Musk as nothing more than a manifestation of dissatisfaction stemming from his decision to sever ties with the company. The firm posits that Musk’s lawsuit is largely driven by his personal regrets after stepping down from the organization.