Elon Musk reportedly drops lawsuit against Sam Altman and OpenAI
Tensions between Elon Musk and OpenAI have somewhat deescalated of late, with Musk halting a lawsuit against the company and its co-founders, Sam Altman and Greg Brockman, in the California state court.
Elon Musk roasts OpenAI CEO Sam Altman amid Sora pre-launch(Getty Images)
The decision to drop the suit came just a day after Musk publicly criticized OpenAI’s new partnership with Apple.
CNBC reported that the case was dismissed with prejudice. Musk had filed the lawsuit in February earlier this year, claiming that OpenAI, co-founder Sam Altman, and C.E.O. Brian Brockman betrayed him and thatbenchmark had breached an agreement signed in 2019.
Musk’s withdrawal averted a hearing scheduled for Wednesday in San Francisco, at which the judge would have considered whether to dismiss the case.
Legal experts had previously questioned the foundation of Musk’s case in a CNBC show, noting that the contract central to the lawsuit was not a formal written agreement signed by all parties involved. Musk alleged that OpenAI, initially dedicated to developing artificial general intelligence (AGI) for the benefit of humanity, had transformed into a for-profit entity predominantly controlled by principal shareholder Microsoft.
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Musk’s 35-page complaint reemphasized how he was directly involved in creating OpenAI, which has now become a prominent and successful start-up. Owing to its viral ChatGPT application, it further strengthened its position.
Elon Musk is taking advantage of the lawsuit?
Kevin O’Brien, a partner at Ford O’Brien Landy LLP and former assistant U.S. attorney, commented on Musk’s lawsuit, stating, “It’s certainly a good advertisement for the benefit of Elon Musk. I’m not sure about the legal part though.”
The Tesla boss launched his own AI startup, xAI, as a competitor to OpenAI. xAI recently announced a $6 billion Series B funding round, with notable investors including Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital, and Fidelity Management & Research Company.
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According to its website, X.AI’s overarching goal is to “understand the true nature of the universe.” Notably, the company introduced a chatbot named Grok, inspired by “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy,” which is equipped with real-time internet knowledge after two months of training.
