In recent legal action, Elon Musk has initiated a lawsuit against Microsoft-affiliated OpenAI, alongside its CEO Sam Altman and additional parties, asserting that they have deviated from OpenAI's core mission, which was to cultivate artificial intelligence technology that broadly serves humanity's interest.

Originating from an alliance formed in 2015 with Altman and OpenAI's other co-founder, Greg Brockman, Musk contributed to establishing a non-profit organization dedicated to creating artificial general intelligence (AGI) to benefit society. Elon's involvement was significant in terms of both funding and vision, contributing to the foundational goals of the organization. Even to the point that, according to Musk, the name OpenAI was his idea. Elon also recruited Ilya Sutskever to OpenAI, who recently led a charge for the brief ousting of Sam Altman as CEO. Musk stepped down from the board in 2018, citing potential conflicts of interest due to Tesla's AI development. Musk's concerns have grown as he perceives the organization's shift toward a profit-driven model, particularly after its transition to a "capped profit" model in 2019, as a deviation from its founding principles. This change was partly motivated by the need to secure substantial funding and talent, which was challenging under the non-profit model.

I’m still confused as to how a non-profit to which I donated ~$100M somehow became a $30B market cap for-profit. If this is legal, why doesn’t everyone do it?

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 15, 2023

Despite OpenAI's reassurance that it remains committed to ethical AI development, Musk has critiqued the organization for losing its original open-source ethos and becoming too closely aligned with commercial interests, particularly criticizing its association with Microsoft. Musk's legal team argues that the entity has shifted considerably from this ethos.

The complaint, lodged in a San Francisco court, articulates Musk's concerns that since OpenAI's inception, it has morphed into an entity primarily focused on enhancing Microsoft's profitability rather than adhering to its foundational altruistic goals. According to the legal documents, Musk believes that under its current leadership, OpenAI prioritizes financial gains for Microsoft, contradicting the original commitment to prioritize humanity's welfare in its AI endeavors.

Initially, OpenAI was launched as a non-profit organization, underscoring a commitment to developing AI safely, transparently, and widely beneficially. The objective was to democratize AI technology rather than allowing it to be controlled by a few dominant entities, ensuring that AI advancements were shared and beneficial to all, not just financially profitable.

This lawsuit underscores Musk's longstanding stance on AI development's ethical and safety considerations and apprehensions about AI, which he previously declared could pose risks greater than nuclear weapons. His disengagement from OpenAI's board in 2018 and subsequent criticisms reflect his growing unease with the organization's trajectory and its partnership with Microsoft, highlighting a significant rift in the vision and management of AI's future impact.