Billionaire Elon Musk sues the creator of ChatGPT for getting rich with the help of AI

Elon Musk co-founded OpenAI in 2015 with Sam Altman. Photo: AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski

Elon Musk is suing the co-founder of OpenAI. founder of ChatGPT developer OpenAI, claiming he had compromised the company's original commitment to putting the development of safe artificial intelligence (AI) before profits.

Tesla billionaire accused Sam Altman of «gross betrayal» after the pair co-founded OpenAI in 2015 and Musk agreed to fund the group with the intention of developing artificial intelligence that would benefit humanity.

The company was founded as a non-profit organization and shared details of its achievements in the field of artificial intelligence with other scientists.

But in a lawsuit filed in California, Mr. Musk said Mr. Altman, OpenAI's chief executive, had since plotted a «radical departure from his mission» by accepting billions of dollars from Microsoft and keeping OpenAI's research a secret.

In the lawsuit, Musks' lawyers wrote that OpenAI raised «tens of millions of dollars» to develop AI for the benefit of humanity, but has since become a «closed commercial partner of the world's largest corporation, thereby personally enriching the defendants.» «

The lawsuit accuses Altman and OpenAI of breach of contract and seeks an order barring Microsoft from using the startup's most powerful artificial intelligence tools.

Mr. Altman has repeatedly warned about the dangers of powerful AI and its threat to humanity. Photo: Markus Schreiber/AP

OpenAI is the developer of ChatGPT, an artificially intelligent chatbot that can answer questions in plain English, generate code, and engage in extraordinary human conversations.

Mr. Altman has repeatedly warned about the dangers of powerful artificial intelligence and its threat to humanity. .

The suit alleges that Mr Altman and Mr Musk created OpenAI out of shared concerns about the existential risks associated with powerful AI, in an attempt to challenge Google, which had just acquired the lab DeepMind artificial intelligence.

>

The group set out to develop so-called artificial general intelligence technology in a safe way, not for profit. Musk left OpenAI in 2018 due to disagreements with its management.

Microsoft became the largest investor in OpenAI last year, investing $10bn (£7.9bn) into developing the technology. Mr. Altman was ousted by OpenAI's board of directors in November and returned to the CEO post a few days later under pressure from employees and Microsoft.

The lawsuit, first reported by Courthouse News, alleges that since then Since then, OpenAI has become a «de facto subsidiary» of Microsoft, seeking to «maximize profits.»

Last year, Musk launched his own AI venture, xAI, through which he developed an alternative to ChatGPT called Grok. He said it would be “politically neutral.”

When Mr. Altman was fired in November, Mr. Musk demanded the board explain its reasoning. The real reason was never made public, other than the board saying Mr. Altman had not been “candid.”

OpenAI has been contacted for comment.