Tesla’s CEO had said that the business had deviated from its mission to advance artificial intelligence for the sake of humankind
Elon Musk, who claims that OpenAI and its CEO, Sam Altman, have strayed from the startup’s original goal of developing artificial intelligence for the benefit of humanity, has filed a move to have his lawsuit against them dismissed.
Musk filed the lawsuit against Altman in February, and the case had been progressing gradually through the California court system. Until Tuesday, there was no indication that Musk intended to withdraw the suit. Just a month ago, his legal team filed a challenge that resulted in the judge presiding over the case recusing himself.
Musk did not give a detailed explanation for the decision in his motion for dismissal. On Wednesday, a judge in San Francisco’s superior court was scheduled to hear Altman and OpenAI’s case dismissal argument.
The decision brings an abrupt end to a legal battle between two powerful IT industry figures. OpenAI was co-founded in 2015 by Musk and Altman. However, three years later, Musk left the board due to differences in their opinions on the direction and control of the business. Tensions between the two have increased as a result of Altman’s rising notoriety in recent years.
Musk’s claim that Altman and OpenAI had broken the company’s “founding agreement” to pursue advances that would benefit humanity was the main focus of his lawsuit. He asserted that OpenAI had broken that commitment by moving towards a mostly for-profit business model, partnering with Microsoft, and not disclosing its technologies publicly.
OpenAI and Altman strongly refuted any wrongdoing, asserting that there was no formal “founding agreement.” They released messages suggesting that Musk had backed the idea of transitioning to a for-profit entity. Additionally, in a blog post in March, OpenAI and Altman implied that Musk’s actions stemmed from professional jealousy, expressing sadness over the situation with someone they had long respected.
Legal experts expressed skepticism about Musk’s lawsuit, pointing out that some of the claims, such as OpenAI having achieved artificial intelligence at a level comparable to human intelligence, lacked credibility.