Tesla CEO’s lawsuit alleges the company abandoned its founding mission of openly sharing technology to benefit humanity
OpenAI criticized Elon Musk’s lawsuit in a legal filing, calling his claims “frivolous” and solely aimed at advancing his commercial interests. The filing, a response to Musk suing OpenAI over allegations of abandoning its commitment to humanity, rejects many of Musk’s core assertions. The company denies ever breaking what Musk calls its “Founding Agreement,” stating that no such contract existed. The filing states, “Musk’s claims rely on convoluted – often incoherent – factual premises,” adding that while Musk says his Founding Agreement was “memorialized,” no actual agreement is presented in the pleading.
Since Tesla CEO Elon Musk filed his lawsuit, OpenAI and Musk have been exchanging accusations for weeks, intensifying a longstanding feud with OpenAI’s CEO, Sam Altman. Although they co-founded the non-profit in 2015, disagreements over the company’s direction and control led Musk to depart three years later. As OpenAI gained prominence through products like ChatGPT and DALL-E, the relationship between Musk and Altman deteriorated further.
Musk’s lawsuit claims that OpenAI strayed from its original mission as a non-profit that openly shares technology for humanity’s benefit. He alleges that Altman betrayed this vision by accepting substantial investments from Microsoft and transforming OpenAI into a primarily for-profit entity. OpenAI refutes these accusations, asserting in a recent blog post that Musk supported the transition to a for-profit model but sought control of the company.
In its Monday response, OpenAI insinuates multiple times that Elon Musk, who has since started his own for-profit AI company, is envious of OpenAI and resentful about his departure from the organization. The response dismisses the notion of any founding agreement between Musk and Altman as a “fiction” created by Musk to lay unjustified claim to the success of an enterprise he originally backed, then left, and later observed prosper without his involvement.
The filing contends that Musk’s decision to sue OpenAI is not motivated by his purported goal of advancing humanity but rather by a strategic move to bolster his position as a competitor in the industry.
The filing states, “Witnessing OpenAI’s remarkable technological advancements, Musk now desires that success for himself.”
