Elon Musk filed a new lawsuit against the creators of ChatGPT, accusing them of fraud and betrayal of the original mission of artificial intelligence.
Elon Musk has once again taken OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, and its founders Sam Altman and Greg Brockman to court.
The new lawsuit, filed in California, accuses the executives of fraud, breach of contract, and steering the organization away from its original mission of developing artificial intelligence for the benefit of humanity.
The legal action mirrors a previous case Musk withdrew in June, but his lawyer Marc Toberoff claims this one is “more powerful,” adding accusations that OpenAI’s founders defrauded Musk of the $45 million he invested at the company’s inception.
Musk co-founded OpenAI in 2015 with the vision of a nonprofit organization dedicated to ensuring the safe and open development of artificial intelligence. He argues this promise was decisive in his commitment to invest heavily and recruit top-tier talent.
However, in 2019 OpenAI established OpenAI Global, LLC, a for-profit entity that enabled a $13 billion investment from Microsoft. To Musk, this strategic shift represents a betrayal of OpenAI’s founding principles and proof that the company prioritized commercial goals over public interest.
The 81-page complaint filed in federal court accuses Altman and Brockman of promissory fraud, constructive fraud, violations of the RICO Act, unjust enrichment, and unfair competition, among other claims. Musk argues that the nonprofit structure was merely a façade to secure his financial backing before altering the organization’s trajectory.
Central to the case is the partnership with Microsoft, which now holds the exclusive license to use and develop GPT-4 in products like Bing, Microsoft 365, Windows, and Copilot. Musk contends that this alliance undermines the company’s original mission and harms both him and the broader public.
If Musk prevails, the agreement with Microsoft could be nullified, potentially disrupting the integration of ChatGPT and related technologies across the tech giant’s ecosystem. The lawsuit intertwines economic, ethical, and legal tensions, with global implications for the future of artificial intelligence
