Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk has moved to dismiss his lawsuit against OpenAI, the AI company he co-founded, and its CEO Sam Altman. The lawsuit, filed in February, accused OpenAI of straying from its original mission of developing AI for the benefit of humanity and operating as a non-profit. Musk's attorneys filed the dismissal request in the California state court without specifying a reason. The case's dismissal comes just before a scheduled hearing, during which a judge was set to consider OpenAI's motion to dismiss the lawsuit.
Musk's lawsuit alleged that OpenAI had abandoned its founding principles when it released its advanced language model, GPT-4, focusing instead on generating profit. He sought a court order to make OpenAI's research and technology publicly accessible and to stop the company from using its assets for financial gains benefitting entities like Microsoft. In response, OpenAI argued that the lawsuit was a baseless attempt by Musk to further his own interests in the AI sector.
Despite withdrawing the lawsuit, Musk dismissed the case without prejudice, leaving the door open for potential future legal action. The legal battle highlighted Musk's ongoing conflict with OpenAI, which he helped establish in 2015 but has since criticised. Meanwhile, Musk has launched his own AI venture, xAI, securing significant funding and marking a new chapter in his involvement in the AI industry.