Elon Musk has decided to drop his lawsuit against OpenAI and its CEO, Sam Altman. The lawsuit accused the artificial intelligence (AI) firm of straying from its original mission of developing AI for the betterment of humanity, rather than for profit.
Musk’s legal team requested to dismiss the breach of contract lawsuit without prejudice, as per court documents filed in the San Francisco Superior Court on June 11. This dismissal without prejudice means that the case is not permanently closed, leaving the option for Musk to file again in the future.
The decision to withdraw the lawsuit came just before a federal judge was scheduled to make a ruling on whether to dismiss the case or allow it to move forward to the next phase, as previous court records revealed. Musk did not provide a statement explaining his choice to drop the lawsuit.
The lawsuit was initially filed by Musk against OpenAI and Altman on February 29, 2024, citing breach of contract. Musk claimed that the creator of ChatGPT had strayed from its original mission of developing large language models for the benefit of humanity rather than for profit. Musk’s grievances were specifically related to OpenAI’s collaborations with Microsoft to develop artificial general intelligence (AGI) technology and the closed-source launch of ChatGPT-4.
In his lawsuit, Musk urged OpenAI to return to its open-source principles and sought an injunction to prevent the for-profit exploitation of AGI technology. Additionally, Musk filed complaints against OpenAI for violating fiduciary duties and engaging in unfair business practices.
The latest disagreement between Musk and OpenAI revolves around a partnership between OpenAI and Apple, which will integrate ChatGPT into iPhone, iPad, and Mac operating systems. Musk criticized Apple’s decision, calling it an “unacceptable security breach” as it involves trusting privacy and security to a third-party like OpenAI. Apple, however, assured that user IP addresses would remain anonymous and that OpenAI would not retain data requests.
Musk had previously launched the AI chatbot Grok last November in an effort to compete with ChatGPT. The company behind Grok, xAI, received $6 billion in funding from investors such as Valor Equity Partners, Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital, and Fidelity Management & Research Company in late May.
In related news, Musk clarified the status of Nvidia AI chip shipments and criticized the Humane AI pin in a recent magazine article titled “How to get better crypto predictions from ChatGPT.”