OpenAI CEO Sam Altman expressed surprise in a text to Elon Musk about the lawsuit against their AI startup, saying ‘WTF?’ He also mentioned missing the old Elon and that they exchanged emojis.
Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, shared his initial reaction to Elon Musk’s legal action against the AI firm. A founding member of OpenAI, Altman reached out to the Tesla CEO with a text message after learning about Musk’s lawsuit.
In a conversation with journalist Kara Swisher, Altman was queried about his text to Musk concerning the lawsuit. He replied, “WTF? It was somewhat nicer than that. I don’t recall exactly, but that was the gist.” He mentioned that during their exchange, they also shared emojis.
Furthermore, Altman confided in Swisher about his nostalgia for Musk, saying, “I miss the old Elon. He was a huge inspiration to me growing up.” This comment from Altman emerges shortly after OpenAI’s legal team labeled Musk’s lawsuit as “frivolous” and “incoherent.”
Elon Musk and OpenAI controversy
Earlier this month, Elon Musk initiated a lawsuit against OpenAI, filing it in the San Francisco Superior Court for breach of contract. Musk’s allegations include accusations of fiduciary duty breach and unfair business practices. He asserts that OpenAI has deviated from its original founding agreement, advocating for its return to an open-source model.
The lawsuit claims that OpenAI has morphed into a “closed-source de facto subsidiary of Microsoft,” the world’s largest technology firm. According to Musk’s allegations, under its current leadership, OpenAI is not only developing but also refining artificial general intelligence (AGI) primarily to boost Microsoft’s profits rather than to serve humanity’s interests.
In response to Musk’s allegations, OpenAI clarified that the shift to a for-profit model was a collective decision, one that included Elon Musk’s involvement. The organization also contended that Musk had proposed a merger between OpenAI and his company, Tesla, or sought complete control over OpenAI.
OpenAI elaborated in a blog post, stating, “When the discussion about adopting a for-profit structure to advance our mission took place, Elon proposed merging with Tesla or demanded full control. Eventually, Elon departed from OpenAI, expressing the need for a significant competitor to Google/DeepMind. He mentioned he would undertake this challenge himself and encouraged us to carve our own path.”
