Elon Musk drops lawsuit accusing OpenAI of breaching founding promise

Vishwam Sankaran
·2 min read
Elon Musk drops lawsuit accusing OpenAI of breaching founding promise

Elon Musk has dropped his lawsuit accusing OpenAI of breaching its founding promise to develop artificial intelligence solely for the benefit of humanity.

The Tesla owner, an early backer of OpenAI, sued the ChatGPT maker in February saying it had gone against its founding mission and failed to make its findings open source as promised.

Mr Musk said when it initially approached him for investment, OpenAI pledged it would be an open source, nonprofit company, only to break its promise and focus on making money.

OpenAI “set the founding agreement aflame” when it released its AI language model GPT-4, the lawsuit alleged.

The ChatGPT maker responded by calling Mr Musk’s claims “incoherent”, “frivolous”, “extraordinary” and “fiction”.

It said the firm had “no founding agreement, or any agreement at all with Musk”.

Mr Musk has now asked the California state court to dismiss his lawsuit, without offering a reason.

Representatives of Mr Musk and OpenAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Independent.

The lawsuit was the culmination of a long battle between the SpaceX chief and the ChatGPT maker, which has become the face of generative AI technology and AI chatbots.

“We’re sad that it’s come to this with someone whom we’ve deeply admired – 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,” OpenAI said in a blog post after Mr Musk sued the company.

The Tesla chief then launched his own AI startup, xAI, raising billions and posing as an alternative to OpenAI.

OpenAI argued that Mr Musk’s lawsuit was an attempt to advance his own interests in AI.

It accused Mr Musk of attempting to use fact-finding and information-sharing in the legal case to access OpenAI’s “proprietary records and technology”.

The founding agreement cited by the Tesla boss was “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 firm said.

“Seeing the remarkable technological advances OpenAI has achieved, Musk now wants that success for himself,” OpenAI’s attorneys claimed.

Mr Musk said in April that OpenAI was trying to “advance arguments based on disputed facts” beyond the lawsuit’s scope.

On Monday, the multibillionaire said he would ban Apple devices at his companies if the iPhone maker went ahead with plans to use OpenAI technology in its phones.

  • Up next
  • Up next
  • Up next
  • Up next

Latest Stories

  • 14 Poor Souls Who Were Excited To Start Their New Job, Only To Realize They Needed To Quit Immediately

    "I spent my entire day inside a Starbucks applying for other jobs, went home, and got paid, but I never returned."

  • A $100 Billion Bet on China’s Economy Sours as Warehouses Empty

    (Bloomberg) -- In many parts of China, the warehouses and industrial parks that used to be a magnet for international investors are grappling with a surprising slowdown in business activity. Most Read from BloombergYouTuber Dr Disrespect Was Allegedly Kicked Off Twitch for Messaging MinorVW Latches Onto Rivian in $5 Billion EV Pact to Regain MomentumTrump Could Actually Lose Florida. Here’s Why.Nvidia Rout Takes Breather as Traders Scour Charts for SupportJulian Assange Leaves Court ‘Free Man,’

  • Toyota recalls 145,000 Toyota, Lexus SUVs due to an airbag problem: See affected models

    Toyota is recalling about 145,000 vehicles due to an airbag problem, the automaker said last week. Here's which models are affected.

  • Husband of bride who was killed on wedding night in an alleged DUI crash awarded $1.3 million in wrongful death settlement

    The husband of a bride who was killed on her wedding night in an alleged DUI crash was just awarded just over $1.3 million in a partial settlement.

  • Why Boeing's potential criminal charges could have 'huge' impact globally

    U.S. prosecutors have recommended Boeing face criminal charges over allegedly violating a deferred prosecution agreement related to two fatal crashes. Global’s Sean Previl reports on what that impact could be and why the company has a long road to regain the public's trust, even if no charges are laid.

  • Migrant workers awarded more than $23K from N.S. seafood company

    A group of eight migrant workers from Mexico has been awarded a total of more than $23,000 in lost compensation from a seafood company based in southwest Nova Scotia.In a decision from the Nova Scotia Labour Board released on June 14, chair Jasmine Walsh ordered Lower Wedgeport-based Ocean Pride Fisheries Ltd. to compensate the workers for deductions from their wages, missing hours, and pay that should have been provided in lieu of notice of termination.The workers first filed complaints in Sept

  • Nvidia Stock Rebounds After Falling Into a Correction

    The chip maker looks to have been hit by fears over a potentially stretched valuation and news that CEO Jensen Huang has been selling stock through a trading plan.

  • I’m a Retirement Planner: 3 Reasons I Recommend People Don’t Retire in the Summer

    Pre-retirees often give plenty of thought to the age to start planning their retirement, whether this means claiming their Social Security benefits early at age 62 or working until they're 70 for...

  • Gen Xers are on the cusp of retirement—but most have only saved 10% of what they’ll need

    Those in the 10-year countdown to retirement reported a median savings of $47,950.

  • 5 Signs Boomers Have Enough Savings To Last In Retirement

    Retirement should be a time of rest, relaxation, and enjoyment. It shouldn't be a time to worry about your finances. If you're looking for the former, proper and proactive retirement planning from a...

  • Tesla may end up the only victim as Canada mulls punitive tariffs on Chinese-made EVs

    Canada accused China of "anticompetitive practices" as it announced it is set to launch a public consultation exploring potential tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles (EVs), similar to that carried out by the US government. The month-long drive to solicit public opinion, which starts on July 2, will pave the way for policies to protect workers in Canada's automotive industry and its growing EV businesses from unfair trade practices, the Department of Finance said in a statement. At present, no C

  • Top China Lithium Firm Files International Claim Against Mexico

    (Bloomberg) -- Ganfeng Lithium has filed an international arbitration case against Mexico after the Latin American nation canceled a potential mining project valued at more than $1 billion.Most Read from BloombergNvidia’s 13% Stock Rout Has Traders Scouring Charts for SupportBuzzFeed Struggles to Sell Owner of Hit YouTube Show ‘Hot Ones’Jain Global Raises $5.3 Billion, Secures Cash From Abu DhabiHow Long Can High Rates Last? Bond Markets Say Maybe ForeverWikileaks’ Julian Assange to Plead Guilty

  • China hits back at West's over-capacity allegations in EVs, lithium batteries

    DALIAN, China (Reuters) -China's Premier Li Qiang used his address at a World Economic Forum meeting in Dalian to hit back at accusations from the U.S. and EU that Chinese firms benefit from unfair subsidies and are poised to flood their markets with cheap green technologies. Li's comments come as China and the European Union prepare to host technical talks on the planned imposition of tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles (EVs) imported into the 27-strong bloc and after the United States unveiled steep tariff hikes on an array of Chinese imports, including EV batteries, in May. "China's production of advanced electric vehicles, lithium-ion batteries and photovoltaic products, etcetera, first met our domestic demand, but also enrich global supply," Li said in opening remarks in the northeastern Chinese city on Tuesday.

  • Alberta regulator projects 17 per cent growth in oilsands production by 2033

    CALGARY — The regulator responsible for overseeing Alberta's oil and gas sector has released a new report projecting the province's oilsands production will grow by more than 17 per cent by 2033.

  • China goes into panic mode over EU tariffs on electric cars, offers perks for German carmakers if they drop restrictions

    China’s Commerce minister told German counterpart it was open to negotiating tariffs but wasn’t afraid to retaliate.

  • Analysis-Engine maker's Boeing dilemma seen weighing on Airbus output revision

    PARIS (Reuters) -Engine maker CFM's wariness to ramp up supplies significantly to Airbus at a time of stress for its other key customer Boeing was likely one factor in Airbus' move to delay planned jet output increases, industry sources said on Tuesday. On Monday, Airbus delayed a multi-year hike in narrowbody production, cut profit forecasts and trimmed its 2024 delivery target, blaming shortages of engines and other parts and sending shares in Europe's largest aerospace group tumbling on Tuesday. CFM, a transatlantic venture of GE Aerospace and France's Safran, makes LEAP engines that power all Boeing 737 MAX jets and typically just over half of the competing Airbus A320neo family, where they compete with the Geared Turbofan of RTX subsidiary Pratt & Whitney.

  • Analysts underestimated how quickly AI would grow: Arm CEO

    Arm Holdings (ARM) was added to the Nasdaq 100 (^NDX) on Monday as shares are up nearly 140% since its public debut in September. Arm Holdings CEO Rene Haas joins Market Domination Overtime to discuss the milestone and the British semiconductor company's outlook. Haas states that AI "is going to really, really change people's lives in terms of productivity, whether that's call centers that can become 100% automated, healthcare, bio-research where you can cut the research of a cancer drug from ten years to five years to three years. This is all going to be capable with AI. And then every device that we use, the data center, the automobile, your PC, your smartphone, they all need to run AI. There's no quibble around that." He notes that 70% of the world's devices use Arm chips, positioning them well in the overall AI race. He adds, "I think respectfully, the analysts maybe didn't quite understand or have an appreciation at the pace of which things were moving," pointing to how quickly AI has grown. He believes the technology will be a tailwind for both smartphones and Arm, stating, "Since most of these devices are already Arm-based and the software runs on Arm, it's pretty natural that we're going to be in the center of all of that." For more expert insight and the latest market action, click here to watch this full episode of Market Domination Overtime. This post was written by Melanie Riehl

  • Barclays CEO Says It’s Misguided to Go ‘Cold Turkey’ on Oil

    (Bloomberg) -- The chief executive of Barclays Plc said it would be unrealistic for the finance industry to heed growing calls from climate activists to abandon fossil-fuel clients from one day to the next.Most Read from BloombergYouTuber Dr Disrespect Was Allegedly Kicked Off Twitch for Messaging MinorNvidia Rout Takes Breather as Traders Scour Charts for SupportTrump Could Actually Lose Florida. Here’s Why.Rivian Gets $5 Billion Lifeline in Joint Venture With VolkswagenJulian Assange Leaves Co

  • The Supreme Court will consider reinstating a critical approval for a rail project in eastern Utah

    WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court agreed on Monday to consider reviving a critical approval for a railroad project that would carry crude oil and boost fossil fuel production in rural eastern Utah.

  • CATL boss Robin Zeng urges China's EV makers to stop cutting prices and focus on reliability

    Robin Zeng, the founder and chairman of Contemporary Amperex Technology Ltd (CATL), has urged Chinese electric vehicle (EV) builders and car component manufacturers to cease the price war engulfing the sector and focus on ensuring the reliability of their products. Speaking at the 15th Annual Meeting of the New Champions, also known as the Summer Davos, the boss of the world's largest EV battery maker joined the chorus of recent voices warning that such intense price competition may come at the