After months of back and forth, Elon Musk has requested to dismiss his lawsuit against AI competitor OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman.
End of the Conflict?
Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has moved to dismiss his pending lawsuit against OpenAI cofounder and CEO Sam Altman, bringing a month of legal disputes between the two tech leaders to an end.
Dismissed “Without Prejudice”
Lawyers on the case submitted a request in the San Francisco Superior Court on Tuesday, asking the court to dismiss the case “without prejudice.” So far, neither Musk nor his attorneys have given any reason for the withdrawal request.
Beginning in February
The suit was first filed in February this year after Musk accused OpenAI and his former colleague Altman of betraying the founding agreement made between all of the founders of the AI company.
An Original Founder
Musk was one of a group of developers and investors, including Altman, who helped to co-found the Silicon Valley organization back in 2015.
Biggest in the Industry
Now, with the groundbreaking artificial intelligence application ChatGPT under its belt, OpenAI is the foremost AI research organization in the world, collaborating with tech giants like Microsoft and Apple.
Betraying the Founding Document
It was the announcement of a partnership between OpenAI and Microsoft that prompted Musk to sue his former company, as he accused Altman of setting the founding document of the company “aflame.”
For the Benefit of Humanity
Musk claimed that he, Altman, and fellow co-founder turned company president Greg Brockman established a founder agreement to build an AGI or artificial general intelligence with the aim of benefiting humanity as a whole.
A Contested Partnership
Part of this agreement involved keeping OpenAI and its products, like ChatGPT, as open-source applications. But by reserving certain AI technologies for private companies like Microsoft, Musk claims they are flouting that commitment.
A Radical Departure
The suit pointed to the March 2023 GPT-4 model as an example of how Altman has “caused OpenAI to radically depart from its original mission and historical practice of making its technology and knowledge available to the public.”
Reaffirmations Over the Years
He also claimed that Altman and Brockman had continually “reaffirmed” their commitment to the founding agreement “on multiple occasions.”
A Day Before Case Consideration
Now, Musk has brought the high-profile case to a screeching halt, just one day before the California state court was preparing to consider OpenAI’s own call for dismissal of the case.
OpenAI Responds
Some suspect that the timing has something to do with Altman and OpenAI’s public response to the case. The company responded with a legal filing of its own shortly after Musk filed suit.
Frivolous Fiction
OpenAI attorneys used a number of dismissive adjectives to describe Musk’s case, calling it “frivolous,” “ridiculous,” and “extraordinary,” and describing his claim of a founding agreement as “a fiction.”
A Revealing Blogpost
The AI company then went one step further, publishing a blog post on its official website that included several emails between Musk and other founders during his time at OpenAI.
Musk Calls for More Money
While parts of the emails were redacted, they appeared to show Musk highlighting the need for the company to find more lucrative revenue sources, as the company would need more money to survive and develop its technology.
Failure to Commit
The post also showed Musk proposing a $1 billion funding plan, and committing to covering anything that the company did not raise. OpenAI then pointed out that Musk failed to fulfill the commitment.
“Sad That It’s Come to This”
“We’re sad that it’s come to this with someone whom we’ve deeply admired,” the company wrote. “Someone who inspired us to aim higher, then told us we would fail, started a competitor, and then sued us when we started making meaningful progress towards OpenAI’s mission without him.”
$13 Billion Investment
Part of that meaningful process has become possible through the partnership with Microsoft, which has invested $13 billion into OpenAI and now has a 49% stake in the company.
Apple Partnership Announced
Interestingly, Musk’s lawyers sent the dismissal request just one day after Musk fired Apple for forming a partnership with OpenAI. Upcoming Apple software will now use ChatGPT as part of a new “Intelligence” feature.
Musk Reacts
Musk slammed the decision in a series of X posts, calling it an “unacceptable security violation” and threatening to ban all Apple devices from the workplaces of his companies like SpaceX, Tesla, and xAI.
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The post – Musk Backs Down As He Withdraws Lawsuit Against Open AI – first appeared on Liberty & Wealth.
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