Elon Musk, the billionaire founder of Tesla, filed a preliminary injunction in a federal court Nov. 29 to block OpenAI’s “Illegal” transformation into a for-profit business, Bloomberg reported Tuesday. A spokesman for OpenAI responded by calling the move“Unwarranted” and“A repetition of equally unfounded complaints.”.
Musk, infographic, graphic element: Visual China
Forbes magazine said Friday’s document marked an escalation in the legal dispute between Musk and Altmann. Musk, who was co-chairman of OpenAI when it was founded, filed a lawsuit against the company in San Francisco, California, in March, then dropped the lawsuit and sued OpenAI in federal court a few months later, openAI is accused of fraud for betraying the purpose of AI’s pro bono research and development. Elon Musk said it had an agreement with the company’s co-founders that OpenAI should be a “Nonprofit organization” when it provided support, such as funding for its creation, but that OpenAI was running counter to that goal and mission.
In mid-november, Musk widened the charges, saying that Microsoft and OpenAI violated antitrust laws because OpenAI required its investors not to invest in other AI competitors, including Musk’s start-up xAI. Musk’s lawyer said in the filing that OpenAI’s demands on investors amounted to a“Collective boycott”, “Microsoft and OpenAI are trying to consolidate their dominance by cutting off the investment capital of their competitors,” it said.
In September, OpenAI announced that it would transition from a nonprofit organization to a for-profit business, a move that analysts say will make it easier for it to raise capital. OpenAI closed its latest funding round in October, which valued the company at $157BN, according to public information. It’s worth noting that Microsoft has a close relationship with OpenAI, and as of October, its total investment in OpenAI was close to $14 billion. If the court orders an injunction, Business Insider said, OpenAI’s transition to a for-profit business would be halted, as would its partnership with Microsoft.
OpenAI CEO Altmann is one of Musk’s main rivals, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday. Elon Musk gave $200m to support Trump’s presidential campaign this year. With Trump’s victory, musk has been called the“Shadow President”, while he calls himself“First mate”. In this case, not only Altmann, Musk’s other business rivals are worried that Elon Musk will use his power to move against rivals next. Altmann, who is a registered Democrat, has not publicly endorsed any of the candidates in the presidential election. The report quoted sources as saying that Altmann was working actively and had contacts with Donald Trump’s son-in-law Kushner and other people close to him, in recent weeks, he has sought to meet with the trump-nominated new Office of Government Commerce.