AI: Musk loses case against OpenAI
A US court has dismissed Elon Musk's lawsuit against OpenAI and its CEO, Sam Altman – on the grounds that he had taken too long to sue. Musk took legal action because, as a former OpenAI investor, he claimed that he had not been informed of plans to transform the foundation – initially non-profit – into a for-profit corporation. Musk was demanding 114 billion euros, Altman's removal and a return to non-profit status.
Google and Anthropic reaping the benefits
Neither Musk nor OpenAI have emerged from this smelling of roses, the Neue Zürcher Zeitung explains:
“The trial is over and Musk has lost. ... The reputations of OpenAI President Greg Brockman and CEO Sam Altman have taken a blow. But then so has Elon Musk's. And it is the competition that profited from all this. If Musk and Altman are boys in the sandpit throwing buckets at each other, the CEOs of Google and Anthropic are the children who, unfazed by the chaos in the other corner, are building amazing sandcastles: and by comparison they look highly appealing.”
What Musk was really after
La Repubblica comments:
“In the end it was a procedural technicality – at least for now – that prevented Elon Musk from taking revenge on Sam Altman. He lost the case against OpenAI and as a result will no longer be able to take back the company or sabotage it. Behind yesterday's decision by the Oakland jury, however, lies the belief that the Tesla founder was aware of the plan to transform the AI start-up into a for-profit company. And this could also undermine the appeal he will be launching. In fact if he did know, the aim of the lawsuit was not to right the wrong allegedly done to him but rather to capitalise on it so that he could become the undisputed head or owner of OpenAI.”
Dangerous dishonesty among tech elites
Kristof Van der Stadt, editor-in-chief of DataNews, lays out in Trends-Tendances what he sees as the greatest dangers of AI:
“Above all the court case showed that the people who today are determining the direction AI is taking may very well be completely ill-equipped for the job. ... Because they're not structurally honest with each other – and so, ultimately, with us, the rest of the world. ... This is not about whether Musk or Altman were right or what role [Mircosoft CEO] Nadella may or may not have played. The question I find myself asking is whether our society can afford to leave the development of the most transformative technology since the invention of the internet in the hands of AI leaders whose relationships are defined by mistrust, a lust for power and selective honesty.”