Hey everybody, welcome back to the Elon Musk podcast. This. Is a show where we discuss. The Critical. Crossroads that shape SpaceX Tesla X. The Boring Company and Neurolink. I'm your. Host Will Walden. We have 3 burning questions today. How did a $44 million donation turn into a bitter legal battle between tech Titans? What do private emails tell us about the real story behind Open A is founding? And why are we seeing this power struggle explode into public view now, just as AI tech
reaches new heights? So Elon Musk has recently launched a legal offensive against artificial intelligence company Open AI, on Friday, filing for a preliminary injunction in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. The motion seeks to prevent Open AI, its leadership, and Microsoft from continuing what Musk's attorneys characterize as actions contrary to the
organization's founding. Now the legal battle stems from Open A IS transformation from a nonprofit entity into a profit seeking enterprise, which is a shift that has sparked intense
debate. Now, court documents reveal that Open A is inception in 2015 emerge from discussions between Elon Musk and Sam Altman about preventing Google from monopolizing advanced artificial intelligence development through its acquisition of DeepMind. Now, early e-mail exchanges between Elon Musk and Sam Altman unveiled in court filings paint a picture of two tech visionaries united by a common
concern. Quote been thinking a lot about whether it's possible to stop humanity from developing AI, Altman wrote to Musk in May of 2015. If it's going to happen anyway, it seems like it would be good for someone other than Google to do it first. Now, the relationship between Open AI founders began to fracture almost immediately over questions of funding and
control. Now, despite public announcements of $1 billion in committed funding, the nonprofit received only approximately $130 million in donations during its early years, creating tension between the ambitious goals of the project and its financial reality. The struggle to attract and retain top AI talent emerged as a critical challenge for the fledgling organization. e-mail correspondence shows Elon Musk advocating for competitive
compensation packages writing. Either we get the best people in the world or we will get whipped by DeepMind. This determination to compete with established players led to six and seven figure salaries offerings for key researchers. The proposed partnership with Microsoft in September of 2016 caused further strain among the founders. The tech giant offered Open AI $60 million worth of cloud computing access for just $10 million.
But the agreement including requirements for Open AI to promote Microsoft's products now. Musk's visceral response to that said this actually made me feel nauseous. Highlighting the growing divisions over Open A is direction now. Internal conflicts reached 8 boiling point in August of 2017 when key team members expressed concerns about concentrated
power within the organization. An e-mail from Siobhan Zilis, you know Tesla executive and Open AI advisor, detailed worries about the control of artificial general intelligence development, leading to heated exchanges between the founders. Now the power struggle intensified through a series of confrontational emails. Open a eyes. Technical leaders challenge both Musk and Altman's motivation.
Writing to Musk, you see that you don't want to control the final AGI, but during this negotiation you've shown to us that absolute control is extremely important to you now. Financial pressures continued to mount as open AIS ambitious research agenda demanded substantial resources. Altman proposed creating a cryptocurrency to raise funds in January 2018, a suggestion that Musk firmly rejected as potentially damaging to open AIS credibility.
Musk countered with a proposal to integrate Open AI into Tesla, arguing it was quote the only path that could even hope to hold a candle to Google Now. The dissolution of the founding teams unity became complete when Musk departed Open AI in 2018. The organization subsequently established a capped profit subsidiary in March of 2019, allowing returns to investors up to 100 times their initial investment while maintaining the
nonprofits oversight. Now, today's legal action or Friday's legal action seeks to prevent several specific activities, including discouraging investors from backing opening eyes competitors and transferring assets to for profit entities. Musk's attorneys argue that irreparable harm will occur without court intervention, writing plaintiffs in the public need a pause now.
The lawsuit names multiple defendants beyond Open AI, including Microsoft, which is invested approximately $13 billion for a 49% stake in Open AIS earnings. The complaint also targets Reid Hoffman, LinkedIn Co founder and former Open AI member, board or board member Andy Templeton, a Microsoft executive who briefly served as a non voting board observer at Open AI. Now opening eyes.
Dramatic success with Chat TBT has transformed the company into a dominant force in artificial intelligence, achieving the market leadership position that its founders originally feared that Google would capture. Now the success has come with significant costs, as the company reportedly spends more than $5 billion annually without achieving profitability. The current conflict between Musk and Open AI extends beyond
the courtroom to public forums. While Musk established XAI as his new artificial intelligence venture, Altman has publicly criticized Musk's competing chatbot Grok on social media platform X, questioning its claimed political neutrality. Now, amid ongoing legal proceedings, Open AI continues its commercial operations while maintaining that Musk's claims
lack merit. Company's spokesperson declined to comment on the latest legal filing, though Open AI has previously described Musk's lawsuit as blusterous and without foundation. Now, the outcome of this legal battle could reshape artificial intelligence development and raise foundational questions about the balance between profit motives and public benefit in advancing AI technology.
Now, as the court considers Musk's request for injunction, we're going to have to wait and see what happens. But this could influence how AI companies structure themselves in the future and how they operate as nonprofits that turn to for profit companies like Open AI did.
It reveals how early disputes over control, funding and mission continue to shape development of artificial intelligence technology, and not only the technology, but the companies that build the new AGI and the artificial intelligence development of the future. Hey, thank you so much for listening today. I really do appreciate your
support. If you could take a second and hit this subscribe or the follow button on whatever podcast platform that you're listening on right now, I greatly appreciate it. It helps out the show tremendously and you'll never miss an episode. And each episode is about 10 minutes or less to get you caught up quickly. And please, if you want to support the show even more, go to. Patreon dot. Com slash. Stage 0. And please take care of yourselves and each other, and I'll see you tomorrow.