Science & Technology

Elon Musk goes to war with OpenAI because it isn't 'benefiting humanity'

By T.K. Randall
March 6, 2024

Image: Elon Musk at the SpaceX CRS-8 post-launch press conference
Credit: Kim Shiflett / (PD) NASA In an unexpected move, Elon Musk - who has long warned of the consequences of developing artificial intelligence - is suing both OpenAI and its CEO, Sam Altman, for allegedly abandoning its mission to develop non-profit AI technology "for the benefit of humanity".

"Mr. Musk has long recognized that AGI (artificial general intelligence) poses a grave threat to humanity - perhaps the greatest existential threat we face today," the lawsuit reads.

"If a machine can solve nearly any task better than we can, that machine becomes more economically useful than we are."

"As [ Sun Microsystems founder Bill Joy] warned, with strong AGI, 'the future doesn't need us.' Mr. Musk publicly called for a variety of measures to address the dangers of AGI, from voluntary moratoria to regulation, but his calls largely fell on deaf ears."

"But where some like Mr. Musk see an existential threat in AGI, others see AGI as a source of profit and power."Musk argues that OpenAI's partnership with Microsoft has turned it "into a closed-source de facto subsidiary" of the company and that this, among other things, constitutes a breach of an agreement he made with OpenAI and its founders in 2015 to make the technology open source and nonprofit.

The lawsuit itself aims to force OpenAI to "return to its mission to develop AGI for the benefit of humanity."

Since filing the lawsuit, OpenAI has responded by arguing that Musk had wanted full control of the company by merging it with his own company Tesla.

It also contested the notion that the plan had been to create a wholly open source AGI.

Exactly what will happen as a result of the lawsuit, however, remains to be seen.

Source: The Verge

Tags: Artificial Intelligence, Elon Musk