Elon Musk has dropped his lawsuit against OpenAI, the artificial intelligence company he co-founded in 2015. The move comes after OpenAI published several of Musk’s emails from the company’s early days. In February, Musk sued OpenAI, accusing it of abandoning its original nonprofit mission by reserving some of its most advanced AI technology for private customers.
The lawsuit sought a jury trial and the repayment of any profit received by the company’s co-founders, including CEO Sam Altman and President Greg Brockman. OpenAI responded to Musk’s claims, calling them “incoherent” and “frivolous” in a court filing that called for the case to be dismissed. The company also released Musk’s emails, which appeared to show him acknowledging the necessity for OpenAI to make substantial amounts of money to support its AI ambitions.
Musk’s lawyers did not cite a reason for their request to drop the lawsuit. A hearing regarding OpenAI’s motion to dismiss the case had been scheduled for Wednesday.
Musk drops lawsuit against OpenAI
The decision to drop the lawsuit came one day after Musk criticized OpenAI and its handling of user data on his social media platform X, following Apple’s announcement of a partnership that integrates ChatGPT with digital personal assistant Siri on an opt-in basis. The Musk-OpenAI legal battle highlighted diverging visions for how the ChatGPT maker should be managed. Musk accused OpenAI of racing to develop powerful artificial general intelligence technology to maximize profits.
OpenAI asserted that Musk was essentially jealous because he was no longer involved in the startup, having left in 2018. Despite OpenAI’s dismissal of Musk’s claims, Musk is not alone in raising questions about the company’s leadership and direction. OpenAI faced a high-profile leadership crisis last year, which led to Altman’s temporary ouster from the company over concerns by several board members.
After intervention by Microsoft, a major investor in OpenAI, Altman was reinstated. More recently, multiple high-profile OpenAI safety leaders resigned, with several publicly claiming the company prioritized the rapid rollout of new products over safety. Subsequently, the company announced a new committee to make recommendations to the board about safety and security.
