By Anna Tong
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – 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.
Last year, Musk, who is also the CEO of electric carmaker Tesla, sued OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman, accusing OpenAI of straying from its founding mission – to develop AI for the good of humanity, not corporate profit. OpenAI and Altman have denied the allegations.
In their federal court filing on Friday, the former employees contended 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.
The former OpenAI employees, who said they held technical and leadership roles in the company, said the nonprofit’s oversight was crucial to its overall strategy, and that while they worked at the firm, OpenAI executives had emphasized repeatedly the structure’s importance in OpenAI’s ability to execute on its mission. The structure also helped with recruitment, and many employees joined because they were inspired by the nonprofit’s mission, they said.
OpenAI has argued that it needs to remove the nonprofit’s controlling role in order to raise funds from investors. The nonprofit will retain a stake in OpenAI that will become increasingly valuable as the company grows, enriching the nonprofit with deep resources to carry out its mission, the company argues.
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.”
Musk and Altman cofounded ChatGPT maker OpenAI in 2015, but Musk left before the company became a technology star. Musk’s opposition to the change in structure led to the current suit, and the two parties are set to begin a jury trial in spring next year.
Recently Musk also went on to create his own AI firm, xAI, in 2023, and Altman alleges that Musk has been trying to slow down a competitor.
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.
(Reporting by Anna Tong in San Francisco; editing by Diane Craft)
