For some time now, Elon Musk has been trying to stop OpenAI from switching to a for-profit organization. This has led to multiple lawsuits filed in court. However, the owner of X (FKA Twitter) has not succeeded in any of the cases. In a new development, Elon Musk has received a new setback in his attempt to prevent OpenAI from switching to for-profit.
Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, is the main face of the artificial intelligence company. However, you may not know that Elon Musk was a co-founder of the firm along with Altman and nine other people. Musk contributed up to $45 million in funding since 2015 but left OpenAI in 2018. Musk claimed in his lawsuits against OpenAI that the company tricked him into funding it.
Judge rules against Elon Musk’s lawsuit requesting the halt of the OpenAI for-profit transition
Elon Musk’s latest lawsuit against OpenAI was filed in a federal court in California. The owner of X claimed that OpenAI betrayed its original direction by seeking to transform itself into a for-profit organization. He claims that his funding was contingent on the company committing to being a nonprofit organization. Musk attached emails discussing the matter as part of the evidence. His goal was to obtain an injunction halting the ongoing transformation of OpenAI’s management model.
That said, US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers ruled against Musk. “Whether Musk’s emails and social media posts constitute a writing sufficient to constitute an actual contract or charitable trust between the parties is debatable,” reads her ruling. This implies that the owner of X was unable to conclusively demonstrate OpenAI’s unwavering commitment to maintaining a nonprofit model. So, Sam Altman has a clear path to continue with the transformation of the AI-focused firm.
According to Altman, the change of model is a necessary step for OpenAI. Developing artificial intelligence is quite expensive, especially for those who want to stay on top. Being a for-profit organization will allow OpenAI to get more funding to stay on top of the segment. Currently, OpenAI has a hybrid structure where a nonprofit division manages a for-profit one. A few weeks ago, OpenAI confirmed that its nonprofit branch will continue to exist even after the model change. However, now its for-profit counterpart will make the important decisions in the company.
Musk has his own AI company
It’s noteworthy that Elon Musk has his own artificial intelligence company. xAI, founded in 2023, was born as an extension of X, and its product is Grok, the AI-powered chatbot. Recently, xAI introduced Grok 3 with advanced “reasoning” capabilities and deep research options.
