Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, co-founder of OpenAI, has filed an updated lawsuit against the AI organization and its CEO, Sam Altman. Filed in a U.S. court, the lawsuit alleges that OpenAI has deviated from its founding non-profit principles, a shift Musk argues contradicts the organization’s original mission.
The legal filing includes email exchanges between Musk and OpenAI leadership, shedding light on years of internal disagreements over funding and the organization’s strategic direction.
According to the lawsuit, Musk, once OpenAI’s largest financial supporter, contributed over $44 million in cash between 2016 and 2020. These funds played a pivotal role in OpenAI’s development.
“Without Musk’s financial support and active involvement, OpenAI would not exist,” the lawsuit asserts. It further claims Musk leased office space to OpenAI in San Francisco and covered its overhead costs, even after resigning from the board in February 2018.
In September 2016, OpenAI leadership, including Altman, negotiated a deal with Microsoft for discounted computing services. Musk opposed the initial proposal, which required OpenAI to publicly endorse Microsoft products.
“This made me feel sick. It’s disappointing and exactly what I’d expect from them,” Musk wrote in an email to Altman, expressing his dissatisfaction. The deal was later revised to exclude promotional obligations but retained the discounted rates.
A significant disagreement emerged in 2017 when Altman and co-founder Greg Brockman proposed transitioning OpenAI into a for-profit entity. The move aimed to attract investors, secure capital, and issue equity, but Musk strongly opposed the shift.
In a September 2017 email, Musk voiced his discontent, stating, “Either pursue your own venture or maintain OpenAI as a non-profit. I won’t continue funding OpenAI without a firm commitment to its mission, or I’m just a fool providing free funding to a start-up. This discussion ends here.”
The lawsuit contends that OpenAI’s transition to a for-profit model has undermined its mission to ensure artificial intelligence remains accessible and beneficial to society.
Musk also expressed concerns over the monopolization of AI technologies, emphasizing, “The prudent approach to AI development is caution, ensuring its power is distributed broadly and not controlled by a single entity. That’s why OpenAI was founded.”
The lawsuit accuses OpenAI and Microsoft of monopolizing the generative AI market and abandoning their foundational commitments. Musk is seeking to invalidate OpenAI’s licensing agreements with Microsoft and recover what he deems “unjust profits.
