As Elon Musk sues OpenAI over its ongoing transition into a for-profit company, the maker of ChatGPT is hitting back. In response, OpenAI has released emails from 2017, which show that taking the company for-profit was originally Musk’s idea.
The emails show Musk, then an OpenAI board member, demanding majority control of the company and the position of CEO. In a message to two of OpenAI’s co-founders in September 2017, Musk laid out a plan to make the company for-profit.
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“I would unequivocally have initial control of the company,” Musk wrote.
Musk noted at the time that his tenure at the helm would be temporary. OpenAI co-founder Ilya Sutskever wrote back rejecting Musk’s request.
“It is a bad idea to create a structure where you could become a dictator if you chose to,” Sutskever wrote.
Musk resigned from the OpenAI board in 2018, after the company rejected an effort by Musk to “attach” the company to Tesla. Now, OpenAI is a leader in the field, thanks in part to its ChatGPT service, and financial backing from Microsoft.
In addition to a lawsuit, alleging OpenAI tricked investors by starting as a nonprofit, Musk is also accusing Microsoft of breaking antitrust laws. OpenAI has come under scrutiny and dealt with upheaval as it has quickly surged in value in recent years.
In September, three OpenAI executives left as CEO Sam Altman limited the organization’s nonprofit arm from controlling the for-profit business.
And last week, San Francisco authorities said they found a whistleblower dead after he alleged OpenAI was violating copyright law. They added that the death was a suicide and found no evidence of foul play.
