As artificial as the intelligence is, AI has the ability to exploit the good intentions of humans as well as their worst instincts. Elon Musk, accused of saving money to the shareholders of his companies, investigated for racist treatment of his workers or able to grant Tesla a bonus of 55 billion dollars (overturned by justice), appeals now “to a matter of principle” in its open war against OpenAI, the company that has broken molds in the development of artificial intelligence.
In the courts of San Francisco, Musk accuses Sam Altman, executive director of OpenAI, and Microsoft, the main investor and de facto owner of this society, of having broken the purpose with which the platform was founded to prioritize the bank account and the commercial interests of AI over the common good.
After playing around with the PayPal payment system and the innovative success of Tesla’s electric cars, Musk participated in 2015 in the creation of a non-profit laboratory for the development of artificial intelligence. There he shared space with Sam Altman and Greg Brockman. The three founders named their creation OpenAI.
The good fortune of those days has turned into an open confrontation, like so many other results of personal ambitions, as soon as the issue has generated a very lucrative business and has emerged as a weapon loaded with power.
Although he remained financially linked, the entrepreneur of South African origin already left the firm’s board of directors in 2018, an indicator of latent discord.
After his departure from the command team, the platform has become a leader in generative artificial intelligence (IAG) with tools such as ChatGPT, a chatbot that can produce text and answer queries with human prose.
The lawsuit explains that OpenAI has betrayed the altruistic spirit of its foundation to work for the benefit of humanity in general.
From his perspective, and even though he announced that he was registering his own society to develop AI, Musk is one of those who has aligned himself with the apocalyptic. He holds the fear that an approach focused primarily on economic benefits can plunge the world into total disaster because it does not sufficiently take into account the technological risks of such a bet.
“Until now, the OpenAI website continues to profess that its charter is to ensure that the IAG benefits all of humanity,” the lawsuit states.
“OpenAI has transformed itself into an encapsulated code subsidiary of the largest technology company, Microsoft”, notes the court complaint and the last chapter so far in this confrontation between former adventure partners.
Altman, the face of AI, was fired from his company at the end of 2023 precisely because the governing board felt that he was bypassing all protections and thinking only about the commercial issue. The threat to take away all the workers and the pressure from Microsoft meant that he returned to the command and that the critical members of the board had to take the discharge.
“Under its new board, it’s not just developing, it’s actually refining an IAG to maximize profits for Microsoft instead of maximizing them for humanity,” added Musk.
Its lawyers clarify that the legal initiative seeks to force OpenAI to re-adhere to the founding agreement and return to the mission of developing artificial intelligence with society in mind, not the personal wealth of those who control the company and the IT giant.
The lawsuit represents another challenge for Altman at the top of the business, also in the crosshairs of the US Government.
