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Elon Musk challenges OpenAI’s change to for-profit entity

Elon Musk challenges OpenAI’s change to for-profit entity

AFP | | Posted by Aditi Srivastava

December 01, 2024 at 11:46 AM IST

Elon Musk filed an injunction to prevent OpenAI from becoming a for-profit entity, saying it restricts investor funding for competing companies.

Elon Musk has again asked a US court to prevent OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, from transforming into a for-profit company, CNBC reported on Saturday.

Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX and Tesla and owner of X. (Reuters Photo)
Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX and Tesla and owner of X. (Reuters Photo)

Lawyers representing the billionaire and his AI startup, xAI, filed an injunction Friday, the financial news site reported.

The injunction also requests that OpenAI be enjoined from allegedly prohibiting its investors from funding competing companies.

The move is the latest development in a business feud between OpenAI and Musk, who co-founded the group in 2015 but has since left it.

OpenAI has seen its profile skyrocket in recent years as it has become a star player in the growing field of artificial intelligence.

Musk alleged that OpenAI barred its investors from investing in competitors, putting his own startup at a disadvantage in an industry where billions of dollars are at stake.

OpenAI was founded as a non-profit company and has since become a “capped” for-profit company.

It is currently seeking to become a for-profit public benefit corporation, which could attract more investment.

After his departure in 2018, Musk said he was uncomfortable with the profit-driven direction the company was taking under CEO Sam Altman.

He filed a lawsuit against the company in March, accusing it of breaking from its original nonprofit mission of making AI research accessible to everyone.

OpenAI claims that Musk’s lawsuit, as well as his embrace of open source development for AI, is little more than a case of sour grapes after he left the company.

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