Elon Musk wants to get Sam Altman removed as CEO, OpenAI calls it ‘harassment campaign’
Elon Musk has launched a new attack on OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and now wants the OpenAI co-founder to be removed from his position at the company. The billionaire stated in his lawsuit filed Tuesday that the purpose of his lawsuit is to “unwind OpenAI’s for-profit transformation and restructuring.” Musk said this would require Altman and OpenAI President Greg Brockman to be removed from their leadership positions in the AI initiative.
Musk also stated through his lawyer that OpenAI’s status as a non-profit research organization would be restored.
Specifically, Musk is suing OpenAI and its main backer, Microsoft, over allegations that the AI startup he helped co-found strayed from its original mission of developing AI for the benefit of humanity and instead defrauded him by trying to turn it into a for-profit organization.
Musk changed his case:
Musk had previously stated in his lawsuit that he wanted to receive up to $134 billion in damages from OpenAI and Microsoft. But the billionaire changed his lawsuit on Tuesday, stating that he was not seeking a single dollar for himself, but instead asked the court to award any potential damages he might win to OpenAI’s nonprofit arm.
Musk also wants Altman and Brockman to turn over any equity or other benefits to charity.
Musk’s lawyer, Marc Toberoff, was quoted by The Wall Street Journal as saying: “He’s asking the court to return everything taken from a public charity and make sure the people responsible are never in a position to do so again.”
“That was the gist of his complaint from the beginning of this case until OpenAI’s spin doctors tried to twist it. This filing sets the record straight,” he added.
The filing, amended by Musk, comes just a day after OpenAI’s Chief Strategy Officer Jason Kwon requested that the attorneys general of California and Delaware investigate Musk for potential “improper and anticompetitive conduct,” Bloomberg reported.
OpenAI reacts to Musk’s amended case:
OpenAI reacted strongly to Musk’s amended lawsuit, stating: “Today, at the eleventh hour, Elon filed a lawsuit pretending to change his stance on attacking the non-profit OpenAI Foundation.”
“The truth is that this lawsuit has always been about Elon generating more power and more money for what he wants. Increasingly aware that his attempt to harm the nonprofit OpenAI Foundation is based on a baseless legal suit, Elon is once again trying to change the narrative and salvage his reputation as the trial approaches. His lawsuit is nothing more than a campaign of harassment driven by ego, jealousy, and a desire to slow down a rival,” OpenAI added.
