OpenAI (L) CEO Sam Altman and Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
Reuters
OpenAI sent a letter to the attorneys general of California and Delaware on Monday asking them to investigate “inappropriate and anticompetitive conduct” by Elon Musk and his associates as a high-profile trial between the two approaches.
OpenAI Strategy Director Jason Kwon claimed in the letter that Musk is plotting to undermine OpenAI through a variety of “attacks” against the company, including “coordinating efforts” against OpenAI. meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
Musk and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman co-founded the Artificial Intelligence Institute as a nonprofit organization in 2015, along with several other researchers and executives. Musk left OpenAI in 2018 after trying to persuade executives to merge with Tesla. He later launched a competing company, xAI, and sued OpenAI, alleging that he was “persistently manipulated” and “deceived” by the company as it sought to transform into a commercial entity in 2024.
Jury selection for the trial is scheduled to begin April 27 in the Northern District of California.
Kwon said in the letter that Musk’s actions could undermine OpenAI’s efforts to achieve artificial general intelligence (AGI), a broad term referring to AI systems that match or exceed human intelligence.
“These attacks are aimed at taking control of AGI’s future out of the hands of those who have a legal obligation to pursue its mission of ensuring that AGI benefits all humanity, and placing it in the hands of competitors who lack mission-driven principles and disregard their responsibilities to safety,” Kwon wrote.
OpenAI had previously raised related concerns about Musk’s antics.
In January, the company sent a letter to investors and partner banks warning them to expect Mr. Musk to make “intentionally outlandish and attention-grabbing claims” as the lawsuit against the AI Institute heads to trial.
In its letter, OpenAI said Musk was likely to make comments about AI companies that were “not based in reality” and were “typical of the harassment tactics he has deployed in the past.”
—CNBC’s Lora Kolodny contributed to this report.
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