Tech mogul Elon Musk has retracted his lawsuit against OpenAI and its CEO, Sam Altman. Initially filed in 2023, the lawsuit accused OpenAI of deviation from its founding mission of developing AI for humanity’s benefit rather than monetary gain. Allegedly, OpenAI was bought over by tech powerhouse Microsoft and was transforming its AGI to maximize Microsoft’s profits instead of benefitting humanity. While Musk’s dismissal of the lawsuit does not come with a furnished rationale, the lawsuit was to be reviewed by a judge at the San Francisco Superior Court on the following Wednesday.
Musk’s feud with OpenAI, a company he co-founded in 2015, and its steadily deviating altruistic goals has been ongoing. The lawsuit, fueled by this feud, appeared more novelty than a serious legal trial. OpenAI responded to Musk’s claims by reminding that Musk had once advocated for their profit-based structure and had recommended a merger with his company, Tesla. In an essentially publicized quarrel, the tension between Musk with Altman and other AI leaders flared following an announcement of a partnership between Apple and OpenAI with ChatGPT for improving Siri and Apple’s operating systems.
Amidst Musk’s skepticism regarding Apple’s alliance with OpenAI, Apple’s stock value soared above $3 trillion, recording a historic high. Musk’s withdrawal of his OpenAI lawsuit could most likely be associated with his entanglement in another ongoing lawsuit in Delaware by the Employees’ Retirement System of Rhode Island (ERSRI). ERSRI alleges that Musk and his brother Kimbal, a Tesla director, have unscrupulously sold an accumulated $30 billion in shares between late 2021 and the end of 2022, when Musk knew that certain disclosures were set to make the stocks fall in value. The lawsuit further accuses Musk of selling off Tesla stock when delivery timetables were delayed, raising poor governance issues, like distracting Tesla employees towards his other ventures and pressuring Tesla to advertise on his other platforms.
While OpenAI’s leadership remains under scrutiny, and Altman continues to face his share of critique, OpenAI and Google employees have united to argue their ‘right to warn’ if their companies encounter AI-related risks. With Musk’s OpenAI lawsuit out of the picture, he and his lawyers are expected to handle other potentially more serious suits.
