Elon Musk has once more filed a lawsuit against OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman, claiming he was manipulated into co-founding OpenAI with him.
Court filings published on Monday documented the latest development in the ongoing spat between the influential AI figureheads.
The basis of the latest court action is that the ChatGPT maker “flipped the narrative and proceeded to cash in,” as the company soared on the proliferation and progress gained through generative AI.
The latest installment in the saga between the former associates comes after Musk dropped a lawsuit against OpenAI in June, which alleged the company had reneged on its mission to create artificial intelligence for human benefit.
That was confirmed just a day after the Tesla billionaire rebuked OpenAI’s collaboration with Apple when he threatened to prohibit iPhones and other Apple devices at his companies.
Strained relations between Microsoft and OpenAI
Musk’s latest efforts to thwart OpenAI resemble the lawsuit which was eventually dismissed, but this time it is alleged Microsoft was involved.
The details published on Monday outlined how Musk claims he was “courted and deceived” by Altman and OpenAI president Greg Brockman on the basis the firm was a nonprofit, then he was “betrayed by Altman and his accomplices” as the model was changed to a profit-generating one.
Microsoft has been a strategic partner to OpenAI, having contributed an estimated $13 billion to the firm, but a tangled web is forming with the two entities now said to be competing in AI and Search.
The lawsuit filed by Musk and his team points to the wider disconnect between the tech players and the high stakes involved as it seeks a judicial determination to void the license for Microsoft to use OpenAI’s models.
It is this agreement and the use of the LLMs to boost Microsoft’s services that has resulted in billions of dollars flowing in the opposite direction.
Whatever the outcome of this latest action, it is not likely to be the last we hear of acrimony between the X boss and the company he co-founded.
Image credit: Via Ideogram