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Elon Musk and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, once allies, no longer see eye to eye. Here’s why.
The relationship between Elon Musk and OpenAI has taken an increasingly acrimonious — and public — turn, with the one-time allies lobbing allegations at each other as they battle over the future of artificial intelligence.
For many observers, it may seem a surprising twist in a relationship that stems from at least 2015, when Musk helped found OpenAI on the premise that it would use its generative AI technology to benefit the public.
But that relationship blew up publicly last week when Musk filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and two of its executives, CEO Sam Altman and President Greg Brockman, accusing them of violating those founding principles by putting profits over humanity.
Now, OpenAI is offering its retort, saying in a blog post on Tuesday that it intends to move to dismiss all of Musk’s claims. But the post got more personal, releasing a batch of emails from Musk that show he initially wanted to subsume OpenAI into Tesla, his electric vehicle company, and had pushed for a for-profit business. OpenAI was founded as a nonprofit, but now operates in a hybrid structure it calls a “capped profit” business.
When Musk didn’t get his way, the Tesla CEO left the AI business, vowing to start his own company, OpenAI claimed.
“We’re sad that it’s come to this with someone whom we’ve deeply admired — someone who inspired us to aim higher, then told us we would fail, started a competitor, and then sued us when we started making meaningful progress towards OpenAI’s mission without him,” OpenAI said in the blog post, which was co-written by executives including Altman and Brockman.
Musk, meanwhile, posted memes to his social media service X on Wednesday, including one featuring Altman, that labeled OpenAI as “ClosedAI” — a reference to OpenAI’s transformation from being an open-source, nonprofit company to a closed-source, for-profit company controlled by Microsoft.
“OpenAI, Inc. has been transformed into a closed-source de facto subsidiary of the largest technology company in the world: Microsoft,” the lawsuit states. “Its technology, including GPT-4, is closed-source primarily to serve the proprietary commercial interests of Microsoft.”
In many ways, the hostile relationship between Musk and OpenAI is a tale as old as capitalism: Founders of a company start off with shared goals but soon discover they don’t see eye-to-eye, leading to a split and bitter legal claims. But there’s more to the issue than a dispute over their business vision; the fight underscores questions about the development of AI, and who stands to benefit from its emergence.
“Beyond the legal battle, this situation illuminates the broader conversation about the future of AI — how it should be developed, who should have access to these powerful technologies, and how they can be used in ways that benefit humanity as a whole, rather than serving narrow commercial interests,” noted Tim E. Bates, an AI expert and former CTO of Lenovo, in an email.
The AI boom
The battle is occurring at a time when demand for AI is exploding, with Google and Microsoft seeking to dominate the new technology. The market for generative AI products could grow $1.3 trillion in the next decade, up from $40 billion in 2022, according to Bloomberg Intelligence.
OpenAI has developed commercial ties with Microsoft, which has invested billions in the company and integrated its groundbreaking GPT-4 tech into its software programs. Microsoft has also developed an AI app called Copilot that’s geared to helping consumers automate various tasks.
Those commercial ties are at the heart of Musk’s lawsuit against OpenAI, with the tech billionaire claiming that the relationship represents “a stark betrayal of the founding agreement” to help humanity.
Even so, Musk has his own AI developments in the works at Tesla, illustrating that he’s not against the commercialization of AI, at least when it benefits him and his shareholders. In January, he demanded 25% voting control of the EV company before expanding its AI developments. Currently, Musk is the largest individual shareholder of Tesla, with about 13% of outstanding shares, according to FactSet.
Tesla’s AI initiatives, including self-driving cars, are one reason investors are bullish on the company, noted Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives in a January research note.
“The outcome of [Musk’s lawsuit against OpenAI] could set a precedent for how AI organizations balance the dual objectives of innovation and accessibility,” Bates said of Musk’s lawsuit.
If he succeeds, more AI companies could adopt more open-source models in which newly developed technology is free and available to the public, but if OpenAI wins the battle, it could lead to more commercialization of AI, Bates noted.
Chipotle Mexican Grill job applicants better get used to conversing with AI — their first interview could be with an artificial intellgence-powered system named “Ava Cado” rather than a human hiring manager.
The fast-casual Mexican restaurant chain said Tuesday that it is partnering with Paradox, a maker of what the technology company calls “conversational” AI, to launch the new hiring platform.
By collecting basic information about candidates, Ava will free up restaurant managers to focus on other tasks, according to the company. The AI can also schedule interviews and even make job offers in real time, the company said. Ava is also a polyglot and able to conduct interviews in English, Spanish, French and German.
The new technology is expected to reduce the amount of time it takes Chipotle to hire an employee for an in-restaurant position by as much 75%, Chipotle said in a statement to CBS MoneyWatch.
Chipotle plans to deploy the system across more than 3,500 restaurant locations in North America and Europe. The technology is currently being introduced at restaurants in a phased approach that’s expected to be complete by the end of October.
In addition to collecting biographical information, Ava can engage with job applicants and answer their questions about the company, according to Chipotle.
“Paradox operates as if we’ve hired additional administrative support for all our restaurants, freeing up more time for managers to support team members and provide an exceptional guest experience. We’re excited about the early improvements we’re seeing,” Chipotle chief human resources officer Ilene Eskenazi said in a statement.
A number of other major restaurant chains, retailers and other companies have turned to Paradox’s AI hiring tech, including Applebee’s, McDonald’s, Panera Bread, Taco Bell and Wendy’s.
Although AI can expedite the hiring process, it can also be controversial as a recruiting tool. Some studies have found that it can lead to biased assessment of candidates and unintentionally discriminate against people based on their race or gender.
To guard against the misuse of AI in hiring, New York City in 2021 passed a law that requires companies that use the technology to disclose its use to job candidates. Employers are also required to conduct annual third-party “bias audits” of their automated hiring systems to ensure the technology isn’t discriminating against certain types of candidates.
The North Carolina county that is home to Asheville overcounted deaths caused by Helene by as many as 30, according to a statement Tuesday from its sheriff’s office and data from the state, significantly reducing the death toll from the historic storm.
Buncombe County officials, who previously reported 72 deaths, are now deferring to a state tally of 42 deaths for the county.
The county’s number dates back to an Oct. 3 news release in which county officials reported that “72 lives have been lost due to Hurricane Helene,” repeating a number cited by Sheriff Quentin Miller at an earlier media briefing. But state officials, relying on reviews by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Raleigh, have consistently reported a number lower than that for the county. The number for Buncombe County included in the state’s tally has stood at 42 since at least Oct. 10.
On Tuesday, the Buncombe County Sheriff’s office acknowledged in a statement that the number of deaths in the county was lower than the number it provided.
“In the early aftermath of Hurricane Helene, all deaths were being classified as storm related and from Buncombe County. However, as the days progressed, BCSO was able to identify who had passed away due to the hurricane, who was in fact from Buncombe County, and who passed away from other causes,” Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office Public Information Officer Christina Esmay told CBS News in a statement Tuesday. “Compounded with the lack of consistent communication, due to widespread outages, the Buncombe County fatality number that was initially provided to Sheriff Miller has decreased.”
The sheriff’s office did not provide additional information.
The Office of Chief Medical Examiner in Raleigh typically reviews weather deaths and makes a ruling on cause before reporting numbers through state officials, a process it has used in past storms for years. But in the chaos following Helene, a number of counties reported fatality numbers independently of the state. The state’s tally has gradually increased through Tuesday, but the climb has slowed as bodies have been examined.
A spokesperson from the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services told CBS News that Buncombe County is “relying on the state to report storm-related deaths.” Hannah Jones, the spokesperson, said the state’s count of storm-related fatalities stands at 96, with 42 of these deaths were in Buncombe County.
“We do not have information about how Buncombe County was determining fatality numbers for the death totals they were reporting for their county. We understand that Buncombe County decided to stop their independent reporting a couple weeks ago and are relying on the state to report storm-related deaths,” Jones said.
Another county, Henderson, had previously reported two more deaths than the state, but said on Tuesday that it agrees with the state’s tally of 7 deaths.
Using the new North Carolina figures, CBS News has now confirmed through Tuesday at least 215 total deaths across multiple states due to Helene.
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