Elon Musk’s lawsuit against OpenAI could be seen as a case of sour grapes. Mr. Musk sued OpenAI this week, accusing the company of breaching its founding agreement and principles. He claims OpenAI, established as a nonprofit, started a for-profit subsidiary that took in investments from Microsoft against its founding principles. OpenAI declined to comment on the suit, with its chief strategy officer denying Mr. Musk’s claims. The lawsuit stems from Mr. Musk’s regrets about not being involved in OpenAI today.
The lawsuit highlights a paradox in the A.I. conversation. OpenAI aims to build A.G.I., or artificial general intelligence, which surpasses human intelligence. While most A.I. leaders claim A.G.I. is imminent, they also acknowledge its potential dangers. OpenAI’s partnership with Microsoft only applies to pre-A.G.I. technologies, with a clause that allows OpenAI to decide what to do with its A.G.I. to benefit humanity. Mr. Musk argues that OpenAI’s GPT-4 model is A.G.I. and should be made freely available.
The lawsuit raises questions about who decides what qualifies as A.G.I., and if tech companies are honest about their systems’ capabilities. It also highlights the incentives behind claims about A.G.I. progress. While Mr. Musk’s motives may be questionable, the lawsuit brings important questions to light, especially as A.I. continues to advance.