In this photo, the OpenAI logo is displayed on a mobile phone in front of a computer screen showing photos of Elon Musk and Sam Altman in Ankara, Turkey, March 14, 2024.
Mohammad Selim Korkutata | Anatolia | Getty Images
OpenAI fired back at one of its co-founders, Elon Musk, on Friday after the billionaire Requested last month Asking a federal court to prevent the maker of ChatGPT from transforming into a fully for-profit business.
exist a blog post The startup, titled “Elon Musk Wants a For-Profit OpenAI,” claims that in 2017, Musk “not only wanted, but actually created a for-profit outfit” as part of the company’s proposed new structure .
“When he didn’t get majority ownership and full control, he walked away and told us we were going to fail,” OpenAI wrote in a blog post. “Now OpenAI is the leading artificial intelligence research lab that Elon runs. Owning a rival artificial intelligence company, he asked the court to prevent us from effectively pursuing our mission.”
Musk and xAI did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Since Musk announced debut In July 2023, his OpenAI competitor xAI released the Grok chatbot and raised up to $6 billion at a $50 billion valuation, partly to buy 100,000 bots NVIDIA Chip, CNBC report last month.
A member of OpenAI’s legal team told CNBC that Musk has questioned OpenAI’s non-profit model from day one.
Musk wrote in a November 2015 email to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman that OpenAI’s “architecture does not appear to be ideal,” according to screenshots shared in the blog post.
“In particular, YC stock coupled with salaries from nonprofits confuses the alignment of incentives,” Musk wrote, according to the screenshot. “Having a standard C-corporation and a parallel nonprofit might be more good.”
OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman wrote in a text message conversation with former board member Shivon Zilis that a conversation he had with Musk “turned into talking about structure” and that Musk “initially It means the nonprofit is definitely in the right place, but may not be the right person right now,” according to a screenshot of the blog.
About a week later, according to a screenshot shared by OpenAI, Musk retweeted an article about China’s plan to catch up with the United States in the number of artificial intelligence research facilities by 2020 and become the world leader in artificial intelligence by 2030, writing: “They will not hesitate to Whatever it takes to get the product we build, that’s maybe another reason to change direction.
Brockman agreed, writing that starting in 2018, the path needs to be “artificial intelligence research + hardware monetization.” Musk responded: “Let’s talk Saturday or Sunday. I have a tentative plan and I want you to execute it.”
For six weeks or more in the fall of 2017, Musk, Brockman, Altman and others negotiated the for-profit terms of the planned OpenAI, but according to screenshots of emails shared by OpenAI, due to the Negotiations broke down after being unable to agree on shareholding, control and who would serve as chief executive. Musk initially proposed a scenario in which he would have “clear initial control” of the company as a result of his investment in OpenAI, but said that “that will happen quickly” after the company’s board of directors grows to 12 to 16 members. Change”.
According to a screenshot in the OpenAI blog post, in September 2017, Musk created a public benefit company called “Open Artificial Intelligence Technology Company.” Days later, OpenAI rejected Musk’s for-profit terms and offered to continue the conversation, but Musk responded that his proposal was “no longer on the table” and “the discussion has ended,” according to screenshots.
In January 2018, Musk proposed that OpenAI be merged into his electric vehicle company. Teslawrote: “The only path I can think of is a massive expansion of OpenAl and a massive expansion of Tesla Al. Maybe both at the same time. The former would require a significant increase in endowment funding and highly credible people joining our board. Current The board situation is very weak. He also wrote, “OpenAI is on a path to failure relative to Google. “
Screenshots show Brockman laying out a lengthy plan that included the idea that the company should “do its best to remain non-profit.” In February 2018, Musk resigned as co-chairman of OpenAI.
The complicated history of OpenAI
OpenAI originally debuted as a non-profit in 2015, then transitioned to a “capped profit” model in 2019, in which the OpenAI non-profit is Management entity as its for-profit subsidiary. Altman claimed at the DealBook Summit last week that the company decided to adopt a profit cap structure in part because Musk stopped funding it.
Thanks in large part to the viral popularity of ChatGPT, which launched in November 2022, OpenAI has become one of the hottest fields, and sometimes the hottest controversialthe newest startup on the planet. Since launching ChatGPT, the company’s valuation has climbed to $157 billion. OpenAI has raised approximately $13 billion in funding Microsoftand it Completed the latest round of financing of US$6.6 billion in OctoberLed by Thrive Capital, chipmaker participated NVIDIASoftBank, etc.
The company also received $4 billion revolving credit facilitybringing its total liquidity to over $10 billion. CNBC confirmed to a person familiar with the matter in September that OpenAI expected revenue to reach $3.7 billion this year and a loss of about $5 billion.
OpenAI is currently in the midst of a likely two-year transformation into an entirely for-profit public benefit company, which could make it more attractive to investors. According to previous reports by CNBC, the restructuring plan will also allow OpenAI to retain its non-profit status as an independent entity. report.
OpenAI faces challenges from startups like Musk’s xAI and Anthropic, as well as companies like Google, Amazon and Yuan. The generative artificial intelligence market is Expected to exceed US$1 trillion Revenue and enterprise spending on generative AI over ten years Soared 500% this yearAccording to the latest data from Menlo Ventures.
A thorny legal battle
Lawyers representing Musk, his artificial intelligence startup xAI and Zilis Application for preliminary injunction OpenAI on November 29th.
In the preliminary injunction motion, Musk’s lawyers argued that OpenAI should be prohibited from “benefiting from incorrectly obtained competitively sensitive information or coordination through the Microsoft-OpenAI board linkage body.”
The latest court filings reveal that Musk, OpenAI and Altman, as well as other long-time players and backers including tech investors Reid Hoffman and Microsoft.
Muskzen March 2024 sued OpenAI and its co-founders Altman and Brockman in San Francisco state court, alleging breach of contract and fiduciary duties. In the lawsuit, he claimed that early OpenAI teams had begun developing general artificial intelligence “For the benefit of humanity” but the project has been transformed into a for-profit entity controlled mainly by major shareholders Microsoft.
In June, Musk withdrew the complaint and later The lawsuit was refiled in federal court. In the federal lawsuit, led by Marc Toberoff in Los Angeles, Musk’s lawyers argued in the complaint that OpenAI violated federal racketeering laws (RICO).
In November, they expanded their complaint to accuse Microsoft and OpenAI of violating antitrust laws when the ChatGPT maker allegedly asked investors to agree not to invest in rival companies, including Musk’s xAI.
“Microsoft and OpenAI now seek to solidify this dominance by cutting off competitors’ access to investment capital (a collective boycott), while continuing the competitive nature shared over the years from the formative years of generative AI,” the lawyers wrote in a statement. They added that the terms OpenAI required investors to agree to amounted to a “collective boycott” and “prevented xAI from obtaining necessary investment capital.”
Altman denied in an onstage interview at the New York Times DealBook Summit last week that OpenAI investors can’t invest in competitors. Altman said investors are welcome to do so, but the company will cease their “information rights” such as sharing its research roadmap and other materials.
Microsoft has invested nearly $14 billion in OpenAI, but Revealed in October it will Recorded losses of US$1.5 billion In the current period, it is mainly due to expected loss From artificial intelligence startups. Microsoft abandoned its observer seat They joined OpenAI’s board of directors in July despite CNBC reporting that the Federal Trade Commission will continue to monitor the two companies’ influence on the artificial intelligence industry.
—CNBC’s Lora Kolodny contributed reporting.
