Elon Musk (52) is suing OpenAI because the company has deviated from its promise to develop artificial intelligence under the “open source” principle. This process is explosive because Musk was involved in the founding and early development of the company. OpenAI is “sad that it happened like this,” the company writes and is responding by publishing internal communication. What is behind the allegations.
Musk is convinced that OpenAI has already developed a general artificial intelligence or AGI (“Artificial General Intelligence”), a system far more powerful than ChatGPT or Sora, and is withholding it from the public. According to the accusation, this no longer has anything to do with the principle of freely accessible “open source” source code, and OpenAI’s profit orientation contradicts the company’s original plan. However, Musk once invested in the company under these specifications, so OpenAI deceived him.
OpenAI, in turn, reacts with a detailed statement and publishes the internal communication with Musk. This shows, among other things, that Musk has been part of an internal debate in the past that revolved around exactly this question: Can the company research and work towards AGI if it does not want to generate the immense financial resources for profit?
According to the published emails, everyone seems to have agreed, including Musk, that the necessary funds can only be raised if powerful investors are brought on board. The “Open” in the company’s name should stand for allowing as many people as possible to participate in the progress of AI research – and not for revealing “the science behind it”. Several observers and experts therefore assume that Musk’s lawsuit will come to nothing.
The failure of the lawsuit could be part of Musk’s calculations. Finally, after leaving OpenAI, he himself is working on artificial intelligence with xAI: “Grok” is the name of the chatbot launched in November 2023, which has real-time access to all posts on the short message platform X. The allegation: Musk wants to buy time for his own development with the lawsuit. OpenAI actually wants to bring more products to the public as soon as possible, but their launch is being delayed due to a major lawsuit.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman (38) indirectly confirms this reading with a reply to an X-posting by Jimmy Apples. The latter has recently made a name for itself as a leaker of information and schedules in the AI context. Shortly after Musk filed his lawsuit, Apples wrote on Surprising many observers, Altman responded directly to the post: “Patience, Jimmy. It will be worth the wait.”
