Elon Musk withdraws lawsuit against OpenAI a day after threatening to block Apple devices

On June 11, Elon Musk’s lawyers announced that they were withdrawing their lawsuit against OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman. The move ended a long legal battle that lasted several months between the AI company’s co-founders.

Musk co-founded OpenAI in 2015 with 11 others, including Altman. According to Musk, the company’s original mission was to be a nonprofit focused on democratizing artificial intelligence. In February, the billionaire sued the company for violating the original founding agreement.

In a series of tweets, Musk accused OpenAI of lying and criticized their cooperation with Microsoft. He even suggested that they change their name to “ClosedAI” if they wanted him to drop the lawsuit.

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OpenAI quickly responded to Musk’s claims, calling them “inconsistent” and “serious.” They supported their position with a blog post that included several of Musk’s emails from the early days of OpenAI, painting a different picture than the one Musk painted in his lawsuit.

The emails show Musk admitting that OpenAI needs to make significant money to support its artificial intelligence goals. This contradicted his lawsuit’s claims that OpenAI was unlawfully pursuing profits. In one email, Musk suggested: “We need to commit to a much larger amount than $100 million so it doesn’t sound hopeless… I think we should say we start with a $1 billion funding commitment… I’ll cover whatever anyone else does not provide.”

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In early February 2018, Musk sent an email suggesting that OpenAI should “join Tesla as a cash cow”, showing that he wants OpenAI to merge with Tesla or come under his full control. Musk eventually left OpenAI, stating that there needed to be a strong competitor to Google/DeepMind and that he planned to create it himself. He mentioned that he will support OpenAI in finding its own path.

The emails also showed that Musk knew that OpenAI’s mission did not require that artificial general intelligence (AGI) achievements be made available to the public. As Ilya Sutskever, co-founder of OpenAI, told Musk: “As we get closer to building artificial intelligence, it will make sense to become less open. “OpenAI in OpenAI means that everyone should benefit from the fruits of AI once it is built, but not sharing scientific knowledge is perfectly fine.” Musk agreed, replying, “Yes.”

Altman didn’t hold back either, explaining that OpenAI originally started as a research lab with no intention of making a profit. However, as technology evolved, the company had to adapt and make choices that may have seemed questionable in retrospect.

The dispute has attracted a lot of public attention and sparked a debate about the responsibilities that artificial intelligence companies should have. This even prompted President Biden to say: “Artificial intelligence and the companies that harness its capabilities will transform the lives of people around the world – there is no doubt about that. But first they have to earn our trust.”

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This article Elon Musk Drops Lawsuit Against OpenAI Day After Threatening to Block Apple Devices originally appeared on Benzinga.com