Musk Attacks Altman on X Before OpenAI Trial Starts
Elon Musk, the world's richest man, used his own social media site X to criticize OpenAI and its leader Sam Altman just before the trial between them started on Tuesday. Opening statements in the case began after Musk made over two dozen posts on Monday. Those messages targeted OpenAI, Altman, and the upcoming court proceedings.
Musk co-founded OpenAI but departed in 2018. He shared his view with close to 240 million followers that he started the AI research group to benefit humanity. OpenAI changed course, he argued, once it switched to a for-profit structure.
Details of Musk's X Posts
One message called out "Scam Altman and Greg Stockman stole a charity." Musk used those nicknames for Altman and Greg Brockman, OpenAI's president. He added, "Greg got tens of billions of stock for himself and Scam got dozens of OpenAI side deals with a piece of the action for himself."
Musk reposted another item that said, "The main difference between Elon Musk and Sam Altman: Elon Musk actually changes the world for the better and saves lives. Sam Altman? He mostly just takes."
OpenAI began in 2015 as a non-profit organization focused on safe artificial general intelligence. Musk helped launch it alongside Brockman, Altman, Ilya Sutskever, and others. Tensions grew over direction and funding. Musk left after pushing for it to stay non-profit. OpenAI capped its non-profit board's control in 2019 and created a for-profit arm. Microsoft invested billions, making OpenAI a key player in AI with models like GPT-4. Musk now runs xAI, his own AI venture started in 2023 to rival OpenAI.
(The New York Times has sued OpenAI and its partner, Microsoft, accusing them of copyright infringement of news content related to A.I. systems. OpenAI and Microsoft have denied those claims.)
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Musk's History with X and Public Influence
Musk often turns to X, once called Twitter, to influence views on elections, politics, and more. In March, he commented there on a trial about his 2022 Twitter purchase. People accused him of misleading investors. He questioned the claims, but a jury held him partly responsible for their losses.
Jurors in the OpenAI case will likely get orders to skip news and social media. Such instructions rarely stop Musk from sparking discussions on X that match his stance.
Musk and a representative from X did not answer requests for comment.
Context of the OpenAI Lawsuit
The trial stems from Musk's 2024 lawsuit against OpenAI. He alleges the company broke its founding agreement by chasing profits over public good. OpenAI calls the suit baseless and says Musk wanted control before leaving. The case tests promises made when OpenAI formed as a non-profit. It highlights clashes in AI development between open research and commercial gains.
Sam Altman leads OpenAI since 2019, after a brief ouster and return. Under him, the firm released ChatGPT in 2022, sparking global AI interest. Brockman, a co-founder, handles operations as president.
Ryan Mac covers corporate accountability in global tech for The New York Times.
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