• Elon Musk withdrew his lawsuit against OpenAI, Sam Altman and Greg Brockman on Tuesday in California state court
• The case was dismissed without prejudice according to a court filing
• Musk had filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, Altman and Brockman in February for breach of contract and fiduciary duty
Elon Musk made headlines this week when he abruptly dismissed his lawsuit against artificial intelligence startup OpenAI and its cofounders Sam Altman and Greg Brockman. The case, filed just months earlier in California state court, alleged the OpenAI founders reneged on an oral agreement with Musk regarding the company’s future. However, Musk’s decision to withdraw the suit does not signal a truce in the simmering battle between the billionaire tech moguls over the future of AI.
Background on the Lawsuit
In February, Musk filed a lawsuit accusing Altman, Brockman, and OpenAI of breaching an oral contract made when the company was founded in 2015. Musk claimed the OpenAI founders agreed to create artificial general intelligence to benefit humanity as a non-profit organization. But after taking billions in funding from Microsoft and others, Musk alleges OpenAI abandoned its original mission in pursuit of profits.
Musk sought to remind the world of his pivotal role in launching OpenAI via the lawsuit. But legal experts doubted the case’s merits, since the supposed contract was merely a verbal pledge never formalized in writing.
Just a day before a hearing where OpenAI would seek dismissal of the suit, Musk withdrew his claim without explanation. The case was dismissed without prejudice, meaning Musk could potentially revive litigation in the future.
The Bigger Battle Over AI’s Future
Though Musk dropped this particular lawsuit, the tech tycoons remain at odds over artificial intelligence and its implications for humanity. Their feud reflects broader debates about regulating AI development.
Shortly before withdrawing his suit, Musk publicly criticized OpenAI’s new partnership with Apple to integrate its popular ChatGPT chatbot across Apple products. Musk warned the collaboration could give Apple’s iOS ecosystem an unfair advantage.
Musk himself founded an AI firm, xAI, to compete with OpenAI. His company aims to “understand the true nature of the universe” per its website. XAI’s chatbot Grok debuted last year as a rival to ChatGPT.
OpenAI and Musk share concerns about AI’s risks. But Musk claims OpenAI has strayed from its original altruistic motivations under pressure from investors. The fight over OpenAI’s direction seems unlikely to fade given the skyrocketing interest in AI.
Conclusion
Though Musk dropped his legal crusade against OpenAI for now, the much larger battle over artificial intelligence’s future remains unsettled. With AI development accelerating, expect Musk and Altman to continue vying to steer the field in radically different directions. Their philosophical clash reflects divides within the tech industry about balancing AI’s risks and rewards.
