Elon Musk wanted keys to kingdom, OpenAI lawyer says at trial

By Deepa Seetharaman and Kenrick Cai

OAKLAND, Calif. – A high-stakes hearing on the future of OpenAI began Tuesday; Advocates have debated whether Elon Musk is committed to ensuring that artificial intelligence is used to benefit society, or whether he instead sees the Silicon Valley company as a means to amass power for himself.

Musk, the world’s richest person, is suing OpenAI, its CEO Sam Altman, and Chairman Greg Brockman, saying they betrayed him and the public by abandoning the ChatGPT maker’s mission to be a benevolent steward of artificial intelligence for humanity and turning the nonprofit into a profit-seeking juggernaut.

Bill Savitt, an attorney for OpenAI and Altman, said it was Musk who saw dollar signs in financing OpenAI’s early growth and pushed it to become a for-profit business that he could eventually run as CEO.

Savitt said Musk wanted the “keys to the kingdom” and filed a lawsuit only after he failed and then launched his own artificial intelligence business, xAI, in 2023.

“What he cares about is Elon Musk being at the top,” Savitt said in his opening statement. “We’re here because Mr. Musk didn’t get what he wanted at OpenAI.”

OpenAI’s lawyer also noted that OpenAI’s creation of a nonprofit in March 2019 was critical to allowing it to buy computing power and pay top scientists to compete with Google’s DeepMind AI lab.

Musk’s attorney, Steven Molo, told jurors in his opening statement that there were OpenAI defendants seeking riches for themselves as OpenAI began attracting investors, including Microsoft.

In his opening statement, Molo said, “The defendants in the case stole a charity and we ask you to hold them accountable.” he said. “It wasn’t a tool for people to get rich.”

Musk, the founder of Tesla and SpaceX, is seeking $150 billion in damages from OpenAI and Microsoft, one of its largest investors, with the proceeds to go to OpenAI’s charities.

He also wants OpenAI to revert to a nonprofit, have Altman and Brockman removed as officers, and have Altman removed from the board. Musk’s claims include breach of trust of charities and unjust enrichment.

JUDGE ADVISED MUSK ABOUT THE USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA

Before jurors were seated, U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers admonished Musk after OpenAI lawyers filed a complaint Monday about posts on X in which he attacked Altman as a “Craud Altman” and accused him of stealing a charity.

Rogers said he didn’t like issuing a gag order, but urged Musk to “try to control your tendency to use social media to get things done outside the courtroom… Maybe you’ve never done that before.”

Musk, like Altman, agreed to minimize his social media activity. Both are expected to testify at the hearing, as is Microsoft chief Satya Nadella.

The trial may offer a window into some of the egos and personalities shaping OpenAI, which has grown from a nonprofit research lab in Brockman’s apartment to a company worth more than $850 billion.

It also risks complicating plans for a potential IPO by casting doubt on OpenAI’s leadership and could intensify Americans’ fears about AI technology more broadly.

OpenAI was co-founded by Musk and Altman in 2015 to develop artificial intelligence to benefit humanity and fend off competitors like Google.

LAWYERS DISPUTE THE IMPORTANCE OF AI SECURITY FOR MUSK

Molo said “Elon became more concerned” as technology advanced, and he collaborated with Altman to “develop AI safely” after a 2015 meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama failed to address the risks of AI. Hiring leading AI scientists like Ilya Sutskever is part of this process, Molo said.

Savitt disagreed, saying AI safety wasn’t a priority for Musk and that Musk was denigrating OpenAI employees who focused on it. “He was calling them idiots,” Savitt said.

Musk said he provided OpenAI with about $38 million for its original mission, but saw OpenAI create a for-profit entity 13 months after leaving the board.

Molo said that an important turning point for Musk came when Microsoft invested $10 billion in OpenAI in January 2023. “This violated every commitment made not just to Elon, but to the world,” he said.

Microsoft’s attorney, Russell Cohen, said the company did nothing wrong.

“Microsoft has been a responsible partner every step of the way,” Cohen said in his opening statement.

OPENAI’S STRUCTURE HAS BEEN RENEWED AGAIN

OpenAI also faces increasing competition from rivals including Anthropic, which is spending billions of dollars on computing resources. According to Reuters, it is stated that a possible public offering could add a value of $ 1 trillion to the company.

Musk’s xAI lags far behind OpenAI in terms of usage. It has handed that job over to SpaceX, whose potential IPO this year could be the largest ever.

Last fall, OpenAI overhauled its structure to become a public interest company in which nonprofits and other investors, including Microsoft, own shares. The nonprofit holds a 26% stake and guarantees it if OpenAI hits certain valuation targets.

A public interest company could make OpenAI more investor-friendly while maintaining its philanthropic roots.

This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to the text.