Elon Musk Ends Legal Battle with OpenAI, Future Unclear
Elon Musk has withdrawn his lawsuit against OpenAI and its CEO, Sam Altman, in a move that leaves the future of their relationship uncertain. The lawsuit, filed in February 2024, accused OpenAI of straying from its initial goal of developing artificial intelligence (AI) for the greater good, instead pursuing a for-profit model.
According to court filings in San Francisco, Musk’s lawyers requested dismissal “without prejudice,” meaning the case can be re-filed at a later date. This dismissal came just a day before a federal judge was scheduled to decide on the case’s fate. No official statement was released from Musk regarding his decision.
The lawsuit stemmed from concerns that OpenAI, the creator of the popular large language model ChatGPT, was deviating from its original mission. Musk argued that collaborations with Microsoft on artificial general intelligence (AGI) and the closed-source release of ChatGPT-4 went against OpenAI’s initial commitment to open-source development.
He urged OpenAI to return to its open-source roots and sought an injunction to prevent the potential for-profit exploitation of AGI technology. Additionally, the lawsuit accused OpenAI of violating fiduciary duties and engaging in unfair business practices.
Musk’s latest qualms with OpenAI center on a partnership with Apple that will integrate ChatGPT into Apple devices. He views this as an “unacceptable security violation,” fearing that user privacy and security are being entrusted to a third party. Apple, however, maintains that user IP addresses will remain hidden and that OpenAI won’t be storing any data requests. They emphasize a “privacy promise” with Apple Intelligence, claiming it can “be aware of your personal data without collecting it.”
In a contrasting move, Musk co-founded AI chatbot Grok last November, positioned as a competitor to ChatGPT. The company behind Grok, xAI, recently secured a significant $6 billion funding round in May.
While the lawsuit is withdrawn for now, the underlying tensions between Musk and OpenAI remain. Whether they can reconcile their differences or if this is a prelude to future legal action remains to be seen.
