Elon Musk has initiated legal action against OpenAI, along with its co-founders Sam Altman and Greg Brockman, and other affiliated entities.

In the court filing dated February 29, Musk alleged that the defendants had violated their founding agreement, which stipulated that OpenAI would develop artificial general intelligence (AGI) for the betterment of humanity, rather than for profit.

Musk, a co-founder of OpenAI in 2015, played a significant role in the company's early growth by providing most of its initial funding, offering guidance on research directions, and assisting in the recruitment of leading scientists and engineers. However, he departed from the company in 2018 and subsequently established his own AI corporation, x.AI Corp.

One major point of contention in Musk's lawsuit is OpenAI's close association with Microsoft. Musk contends that OpenAI now operates as essentially a subsidiary of Microsoft, working on AI projects to benefit the tech giant.

The filing highlighted Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella's remarks during a board crisis in November 2023, where he purportedly asserted full control over OpenAI resources, as evidence supporting Musk's claims.

Last year, Altman faced temporary removal from OpenAI due to concerns from some board members regarding the risks associated with artificial intelligence. However, following a period of uncertainty and intervention by Microsoft, Altman was reinstated.

Musk's lawsuit argues that OpenAI has deviated from its original non-profit mission in favor of pursuing profit. He seeks to compel OpenAI to return to its initial mission as an open-source, non-profit organization dedicated to advancing AGI for societal benefit.

Additionally, Musk wants to prevent OpenAI from leveraging its intellectual property (IP) for the advantage of Microsoft and to recognize GPT-4 as an AGI.

Musk contends that OpenAI's actions, if left unchecked, could have significant repercussions for Silicon Valley, potentially altering the landscape for tech startups. He suggests that instead of starting as for-profit entities, savvy investors might establish non-profits, use pre-tax donations for research and development, and subsequently transfer resulting IP assets to new for-profit ventures to benefit themselves and their corporate partners.