Join leaders in Boston on March 27 for an exclusive night of networking, insights, and conversation. Request an invite here. Openai just fired back at the lawsuit filed last week by former co-founder turned rival Elon Musk over claims the company abandoned its founding principles and identity as a non-profit. “We intend to move to dismiss all of Elon’s claims,” reads a blog post entitled “OpenAI and Elon Musk” authored by OpenAI President and Chairman Greg Brockman, Chief Scientist Ilya Sutskever, co-founder John Schulman, CEO and co-founder Sam Altman and co-founder Wojciech Zaremba. And the response is, for now, largely a series of heavily redacted emails that seem to show Elon Musk not pushing back on the idea OpenAI would need to form a for-profit entity to raise enough money to continue its mission of achieving artificial generalized intelligence (AGI) — defined by Altman as AI generally smarter and better than humans — even as he expressed doubt the company could raise the “billions per year” he thought it needed to compete with Google’s DeepMind and Brain, Research, and Cloud units as well as its creation of TensorFlow and TPUs.(Ironically, it is now Google seen as playing catch-up with its Gemini models.)The AI Impact Tour – BostonMusk, for his part, wrote with an idea to merge OpenAI into Tesla which he planned to use as its “cash cow” to provide the funds the founders thought they needed to pursue AGI. It seems the multiple founders could not agree to this. But again, it also seems to show Musk was not only comfortable with the idea of OpenAI pivoting into a for-profit entity but proposing a version of it that would give him more control over all the other founders. Then there’s this re-definition by Ilya Sutskever of the word “open” in the name itself:Ilya Sutskever explains the meaning of “open” in “OpenAI” in email from January 2016.It was never about open sourcing. pic.twitter.com/cyxNOG2IDGMusk filed the suit last Thursday, Feb. 29 (Leap Day), and it accuses OpenAI and Altman and Brockman specifically of breaching the organization’s “founding agreement” and “set[ing] the Founding Agreement aflame” (rhetorically) by keeping the “internal design” of GPT-4 closed and private, accessibly only to OpenAI, and, as the suit accuses, Microsoft. No founding agreement document has been produced yet that I’ve seen, save for some email exhibits. There’s also an OpenAI Charter the company published on its blog in April 2018, nearly six years ago, which commits to “Broadly distributed benefits” of AI and AGI, but assiduously avoids mention of the words “open source” or “non-profit.”Maybe that is enough to constitute one in the eyes of the court since emails have been found to be contracts in some cases. But is this one of them? Read all the emails below with redactions denoted as or at the OpenAI blog:Will this be enough to get Musk’s claims dismissed in court? We’ll see soon enough. Meanwhile, I had my custom GPT Release Summarizer try its hand at analyzing the emails, and this is what it came up with:OpenAI Clarifies Its Mission and Relationship with Elon Musk Amid Legal DisputeIn a recent announcement, OpenAI has taken a moment to share valuable insights on its journey towards achieving a monumental goal: the development of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) that benefits all of humanity. The organization, co-founded by industry stalwarts like Greg Brockman and Sam Altman, has been at the forefront of AI research, pushing the boundaries of what’s possible with machine learning (ML) and neural networks.Central to OpenAI’s announcement was a candid look at its evolving relationship with tech visionary Elon Musk. Initially, Musk’s involvement was characterized by significant financial commitments and a shared vision for a future where AGI could be harnessed for the greater good. Musk, suggesting an initial $1 billion funding commitment, aimed to set a bold tone for the scale of investment required to make meaningful advances in AI. However, OpenAI has raised less than $45 million from Musk, alongside over $90 million from other contributors, reflecting the complexities of funding cutting-edge research.The journey has not been without its challenges. As OpenAI delved deeper into the necessities of building AGI, it became evident that the resources required far exceeded initial estimates. This realization led to a pivotal moment in the organization’s history: the decision to create a for-profit entity to secure the necessary capital. This shift, however, introduced a strain in the relationship with Musk, culminating in his decision to pursue AGI development independently within Tesla.Despite these challenges, OpenAI’s commitment to its mission remains unwavering. The organization has continued to make significant contributions to the field of AI, developing technologies that not only advance the state of the art but also deliver tangible benefits to people around the world. From assisting Albania in accelerating its EU accession process to improving agricultural productivity in Kenya and India, OpenAI’s tools are making a difference.The announcement also addresses the legal tensions with Musk, expressing a desire to move past the dispute and focus on the mission at hand. OpenAI’s stance is clear: the goal is to advance the development of AGI in a manner that is safe, beneficial, and widely accessible.OpenAI’s journey is a testament to the complexities of navigating the uncharted territories of AGI development. It highlights the importance of collaboration, funding, and strategic adaptability in pursuing goals that have the potential to reshape the future. As OpenAI continues to push forward, its efforts to democratize access to powerful AI technologies offer a glimpse into a future where AI can serve as a force for good, empowering individuals and communities across the globe.The story of OpenAI and its evolving relationship with Elon Musk underscores the multifaceted challenges of building technologies that can change the world. It’s a narrative of ambition, conflict, and perseverance—a reminder of the delicate balance between visionary ideals and the pragmatic realities of innovation.VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings.Join us in Boston an exclusive invitation-only evening of networking and insights to discuss how to ensure data integrity for enterprise AI. © 2024 VentureBeat. All rights reserved.