OpenAI's legal battle with Elon Musk reveals internal turmoil over avoiding AI 'dictatorship'

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A 7-year-old rivalry between tech leaders Elon Musk and Sam Altman over who should run OpenAI and best avoid an artificial intelligence ‘dictatorship’ is now heading to a federal judge

A 7-year-old rivalry between tech leaders Elon Musk and Sam Altman over who should run OpenAI and prevent an artificial intelligence «dictatorship» is now heading to a federal judge as Musk seeks to halt the ChatGPT maker's ongoing shift into a for-profit company.

Musk, an early OpenAI investor and board member, sued the artificial intelligence company earlier this year alleging it had betrayed its founding aims as a nonprofit research lab benefiting the public good rather than pursuing profits.

Musk has since escalated the dispute, adding new claims and asking for a court order that would stop OpenAI’s plans to convert itself into a for-profit business more fully.

The world's richest man, whose companies include Tesla, SpaceX and social media platform X, last year started his own rival AI company, xAI. Musk says it faces unfair competition from OpenAI and its close business partner Microsoft, which has supplied the huge computing resources needed to build AI systems such as ChatGPT.

“OpenAI and Microsoft together exploiting Musk’s donations so they can build a for-profit monopoly, one now specifically targeting xAI, is just too much,” says Musk's filing that alleges the companies are violating the terms of Musk’s foundational contributions to the charity.

OpenAI filed a response Friday opposing Musk’s requested order, saying it would “debilitate OpenAI’s business” and mission to the advantage of Musk and his own AI company and is based on “far-fetched” legal claims. A hearing is set for January before U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez