OpenAI Responds to Elon Musk’s Lawsuit: “Frivolous” and “Extraordinary” Claims
OpenAI, the leading artificial intelligence (ai) research laboratory founded in 2015 with Elon Musk among its co-founders, responded to Musk’s lawsuit filed last month by asserting that the billionaire entrepreneur’s claims are “frivolous,” “extraordinary,” and a “fiction.” In a new legal filing, OpenAI accused Musk of breaching the founding agreement and diverging from its original, nonprofit mission.
Musk’s lawsuit alleges that OpenAI has reserved some of its most advanced ai technology for private customers, breaching the founding agreement and deviating from its original mission. However, OpenAI denies having any such agreement with Musk regarding his funding of the company.
Emails Suggest Musk’s Desire for Control
OpenAI’s blog post last week disclosed emails exchanged between Musk and other OpenAI co-founders. In one of those emails, dated 2018, Musk suggested that OpenAI should sell itself to Tesla to remain competitive in the market. The company refused, and Musk subsequently left OpenAI later that year.
OpenAI’s Filing: “Incoherent” and “Fictional” Claims
OpenAI’s court filing contends that Musk is attempting to create a lawsuit based on a “founding agreement” to further his commercial interests. The document also asserts that OpenAI did not have any agreements with Musk related to his funding of the company.
Furthermore, OpenAI believes that Musk’s demand for relief, which includes a request to make all of OpenAI’s technology and research available to the public, is “extraordinary” and would primarily benefit Musk, as his own for-profit ai concern, XAI, has yet to achieve market success.
Concerns over Discovery and Competition
OpenAI expressed concern that Musk could use the discovery process to seek access to the lab’s proprietary records and technology. The company is also concerned about Musk’s potential impact on its business, as he is now running his own ai company in competition with OpenAI.
The filing requests that the case be designated “complex,” which would create some guardrails for the discovery process and potentially speed up the dismissal of Musk’s lawsuit. OpenAI maintains that the case warrants early and swift dismissal.
Musk’s legal team did not respond to a request for comment.
