The ongoing legal battle between Elon Musk and OpenAI has taken a new turn as a group of former OpenAI employees have voiced their support for Musk's lawsuit against the AI company's reorganization. The lawsuit challenges OpenAI's plans to restructure as a for-profit entity, arguing that the move would compromise the company's original mission of developing AI for the benefit of humanity, rather than for corporate profit.
A dozen former OpenAI employees filed a legal brief on Friday backing co-founder Elon Musk's lawsuit aimed at keeping the non-profit status of OpenAI, marking the latest development in the dispute over the future of the artificial intelligence firm. Corporate leaders want to give investors control, drawing a host of concerns and a lawsuit from Musk and others who say business interests must be subordinated to humanitarian goals.
Musk, who co-founded OpenAI in 2015 with Sam Altman, Greg Brockman, and Ilya Sutskever, left the company in 2018. Following his departure, OpenAI began to shift its structure, eventually accepting billions of dollars in investment from Microsoft starting in 2019. This transition led to the development of ChatGPT and other AI products, catapulting OpenAI to the forefront of the AI revolution. However, it also sparked concerns that the company was straying from its initial non-profit goals.
Musk's lawsuit, initiated last year, accuses OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman of deviating from this original charitable purpose. OpenAI, meanwhile, faces pressure from investors to change its structure. In order for OpenAI to secure a $40 billion fundraising round, the company must complete its transition by the end of the year.
The former employees, who worked at OpenAI between 2018 and 2024, contend that stripping the nonprofit of its controlling role would "fundamentally violate" its mission, as it would lose oversight of the for-profit AI development entity. They emphasize that the non-profit structure has been crucial in guiding strategy and attracting talent motivated by its humanitarian focus. According to the court filing obtained by Bloomberg, the group of data scientists and technicians, argued for maintaining the nonprofit arm's controlling stake in the company.
OpenAI, on the other hand, defends its restructuring plans, asserting that the new structure would still advance its charitable goals. The company argues that the nonprofit would retain a significant stake in the future for-profit entity, which would operate as a public benefit corporation with obligations to both shareholders and the public good. In a statement, OpenAI said the transition would not affect its mission: “Our Board has been very clear: our nonprofit isn't going anywhere and our mission will remain the same.”
The legal battle highlights the tension between the need for substantial capital to develop advanced AI systems and the desire to maintain ethical oversight and ensure that AI benefits humanity as a whole. This tension is not unique to OpenAI; many AI organizations face competing pressures between capital needs and safety-focused oversight.
The case is set to go to trial in the spring of next year, with Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California presiding. In the meantime, the debate over OpenAI's future direction continues, with various stakeholders weighing in on the implications of its restructuring plans. A coalition of California nonprofits, foundations, and labor groups have also raised concerns about OpenAI, urging the state attorney general to halt the artificial intelligence startup's plans to restructure itself as a for-profit company.
