OpenAI Responds to Musk: Tensions Over For-Profit Transition, Legal Claims | ChatGPT download | OpenAI Chat | OpenAI Login | Turtles AI

OpenAI responds to Elon Musk’s accusations, releasing documents detailing the billionaire’s initial role in proposing a hybrid operating model, failed negotiations, and Musk’s subsequent departure from the organization.

Key Points:

• The legal fight: Musk accuses OpenAI of betraying its original nonprofit principles, while OpenAI calls the accusations baseless.
• Musk’s role in the hybrid model: Back in 2015, Musk proposed a mixed nonprofit and for-profit structure for OpenAI.
• Failed collaboration attempts: OpenAI rejected merger and acquisition proposals from Musk, leading to his exit in 2018.
• The competitive landscape: Musk founded xAI, which is now competing with OpenAI in the AI ​​market.

Tensions between Elon Musk and OpenAI, the organization the billionaire helped found in 2015, have escalated after the company recently released internal documents. OpenAI has released a series of emails and text messages to challenge allegations Musk made in a lawsuit that the organization’s transition to a for-profit status betrayed its original mission. The messages show that Musk had proposed an operating structure that combined nonprofit and for-profit components in the early years, OpenAI reported.

In 2017, amid funding woes at OpenAI, Musk suggested a merger with hardware startup Cerebras, paving the way for what OpenAI executives called “for-profit AI + hardware research.” Documents show Musk sought to gain control of the new structure, demanding a 50% to 60% stake and offering himself as CEO. However, the board rejected the terms. Musk later made another proposal to turn OpenAI into a division of Tesla, with an initial budget of $1 billion and prospects for exponential growth, but this idea was also rejected.

After these negotiations failed, Musk resigned in 2018 and severed most of his ties with the organization. OpenAI claims that Musk repeatedly rejected offers to participate in the for-profit wing of the company. Despite this, Musk recently launched a legal battle against OpenAI, accusing it of manipulating the investment market. According to the complaint, the company urged investors not to fund rival companies, including xAI, the company Musk founded in 2023. xAI, which launched the Grok AI model integrated into the X platform (formerly Twitter), has nevertheless raised significant funding, with a $6 billion round and the support of prominent investors such as Andreessen Horowitz and Fidelity.

The dispute also extends to the relationship between OpenAI and Microsoft, one of its biggest backers. Musk accuses the two companies of illegally swapping proprietary assets, drawing the attention of Google, which has reportedly requested investigations into Microsoft’s cloud computing deals with OpenAI. Meanwhile, pressure is mounting on OpenAI to complete its for-profit transformation: Bloomberg has said investors in the latest round could pull their money if the move isn’t finalized within two years.

The complex legal and business dispute highlights the growing competition in the AI ​​industry, where personal rivalries and corporate strategies are intertwined in a fight for control of the global technological future.