Musk drops lawsuit against OpenAI

Tech billionaire and entrepreneur Elon Musk is suddenly dropping his lawsuit against OpenAI, accusing the company of abandoning the startup’s original mission of developing artificial intelligence for the benefit of humankind.

The Tesla and SpaceX owner filed the lawsuit against OpenAI at the end of February this year. Musk argued that he co-founded OpenAI in 2015 for altruistic reasons, namely to develop artificial intelligence to help mankind.

Gradually, OpenAI started to focus on making a profit instead of holding on to its original goal. Musk therefore asked the judge in the lawsuit to force OpenAI to make its research and technology publicly available, including ChatGPT 4, and to prevent the company from using its assets for the financial benefits of Microsoft and other companies.

OpenAI argued that Musk previously backed the idea of a for-profit structure and suggested a merger with Tesla. OpenAI’s lawyers also said the lawsuit was based on incoherent claims, calling it an attempt to advance his own interests.

“Seeing the remarkable technological advances OpenAI has achieved, Musk now wants that success for himself,” they said according to Reuters.

Musk launches his own AI company xAI

According to a filing in the San Francisco Superior Court, Musk asked the state court to dismiss the lawsuit, without giving the court a reason. On Wednesday, a judge from the Superior Court was willing to hear OpenAI’s bid to dismiss the lawsuit.

The latest filing asked for the case’s dismissal ‘without prejudice’, meaning Musk could re-open the lawsuit at a later stage. On X Musk says he’ll give more details on dropping the lawsuit at a ‘later’ date.

In March 2023, after an unsuccessful bid to take over OpenAI’s management, Musk launched his own AI company called xAI, announcing the startup in July.

Last May, xAI said it was looking for 6 billion dollars in fundings. Around the same time Musk predicted that AI will make most jobs obsolete. In June, xAI announced it’s planning on building the world’s largest supercomputer in Memphis.