Elon Musk filed a lawsuit against OpenAI last week, accusing the company of breaching contracts and straying from its original mission. In a San Francisco court, Musk claimed OpenAI’s collaboration with Microsoft contradicts its commitment to public and open-source AGI. In response, OpenAI publicly disclosed Musk’s emails in a blog post authored by Greg Brockman, Ilya Sutskever, John Schulman, Sam Altman, and Wojciech Zaremba.
The emails reveal Musk’s support for a for-profit arm in OpenAI to secure sufficient capital for its mission. In the first email, Musk suggests adjustments to the OpenAI blog for public appeal, emphasizing the need for a $1 billion funding commitment to compete with industry giants.
The second email highlights Musk’s belief in Tesla as the sole contender against Google in AI. Exploring AI’s costly nature, Musk alludes to OpenAI’s financial challenges, proposing attaching OpenAI to Tesla as a potential solution.
In the third email, Musk emphasizes the company needs “billions” to succeed, stating several hundred million is inadequate.
The fourth email discusses an article suggesting the AI company not share the science behind its tech. Musk agrees, stating OpenAI’s openness means benefiting everyone after AI is built, allowing not sharing the science.
The company expressed sadness in a blog post about the strained relationship with Musk, acknowledging the admiration they once had. Despite the challenges, the latter remains focused on its mission, expressing excitement about deploying improved systems to empower individuals.
In this ongoing dispute, OpenAI emphasizes its commitment to advancing its tools and mission despite external challenges.
