OpenAI is suing Elon

Theo - t3․gg

OpenAI's Countersuit Against Elon Musk

OpenAI countersued Elon Musk for "bad faith tactics to slow down OpenAI and seize control of leading AI innovations"
Grok 3's API released same day, suggesting retaliatory timing
OpenAI claims Musk spreading false information about their nonprofit conversion plans
OpenAI building "best equipped nonprofit the world has ever seen" - not converting away from nonprofit structure

November 2015: Original plan for YCAI (Y Combinator AI) as Delaware nonprofit
- Sam Altman proposed board structure: him, Elon, Ilia as directors
- Plan to elect 2 outsiders by majority vote
- Safety provision: any technology compromising humanity safety requires board consent
Elon rejected YC involvement and YCAI name
December 2015: OpenAI officially announced
September 2017: Open Artificial Intelligence Technologies Inc. incorporated in Delaware

Early 2017: Research progress revealed need for "billions of dollars" for AGI compute
Dota 2 AI project showed exponential hardware spending requirements
Ilia estimated "less than $10 billion of hardware" needed for AGI (proved incorrect)
June 2017: Elon agreed to figure out "least expensive way to ensure compute power not constraint"
Summer 2017: Single experiments consuming thousands of cores with distributed computing improvements

August 2017: OpenAI AI beat world's best Dota players in 1v1 (not full 5v5 game)
Elon declared "triggering event" - time for next steps
Demanded majority equity (50-60%), absolute control, CEO position
Wanted to "accumulate $80 billion to build city on Mars"
Proposed board structure giving him "unequivocal initial control"
- 4 preferred A seats (his), 3 common stock seats (OpenAI team)
- Target 12-16 person board with Elon having 25% minimum influence
Formed "Open Artificial Intelligence Technologies Inc." in September 2017

Siobhan Zillis acting as liaison between Elon and OpenAI
OpenAI team (Ilia, Greg) concerns about Elon's control demands:
- Tesla shareholder duty conflicts with OpenAI mission
- Lack of counterbalance to Elon without Sam's involvement
- Unclear cost function and motivations behind CEO title demand
- Questions about AGI vs political goals connection
October 2017: Ilia/Greg email expressing concerns about absolute control
- "Goal is to avoid AGI dictatorship"
- Fear Elon would "retain absolute control despite current intent"
Elon replied in 10 minutes: "had enough, not doing it"

January 2018: Elon proposed spinning into Tesla with $1B+ budget
OpenAI team refused to work at Tesla
February 2018: Elon resigned as co-chair
December 2018: Elon's assessment - "0% probability" OpenAI relevant vs Google/DeepMind
- Compared OpenAI to "Bezos and Blue Origin - hopelessly behind SpaceX"
March 2019: OpenAI LP capped profit structure announced
Elon declined equity offer in OpenAI LP
Sam Altman confirmed no personal equity, never had any

2023: Elon launched XAI competitor to OpenAI
Signed open letter calling for pause on systems more powerful than GPT-4
- Only OpenAI had GPT-4 level system at time
- Call for OpenAI to stop so others could catch up
Grok 3 now roughly equivalent to GPT-4, breaking his own pause letter
Stargate project announcement: Elon claimed "they don't have the money"
Sam's response: invited Elon to visit first site, suggested "put America first" in new government role

Narrator notes Elon's inside information and legitimate grievances
Elon's 0% success prediction for OpenAI proved dramatically wrong
Current nonprofit plans don't mention AGI - focused on "AI for good" donations
Narrator supports OpenAI's lawsuit given Musk's platform advantage and false claims
Acknowledges Elon's early contributions but criticizes current "punishment" approach

Try for free