In a surprising move, Elon Musk has abruptly requested a California court to withdraw his lawsuit against OpenAI and its CEO, Sam Altman. The legal action, which accused OpenAI of diverging from its original mission to develop AI for the benefit of humanity, has been dropped without explanation.
Musk’s attorneys filed the request for dismissal without offering any reason for the decision. This unexpected turn of events came just a day before the court was set to hear OpenAI’s motion to dismiss the case. Both Mr. Musk’s legal team and OpenAI have been contacted for comment by BBC News.
The dismissal was requested “without prejudice,” which means Musk retains the right to refile the lawsuit in the future.
The lawsuit, initiated by Musk in late February, claimed that OpenAI had shifted its focus from altruistic goals to a profit-driven approach. OpenAI countered these claims, stating that Musk had previously supported a for-profit structure and had even proposed merging OpenAI with his electric vehicle company, Tesla.
Tensions between Musk and OpenAI escalated earlier this week following Apple’s announcement of a partnership with OpenAI. This collaboration aims to enhance Apple’s Siri voice assistant and operating systems using OpenAI’s ChatGPT chatbot. Musk responded with a series of critical posts on his social media platform, X (formerly Twitter), including one stating, “Apple has no clue what’s actually going on once they hand your data over to OpenAI. They’re selling you down the river.”
Despite Musk’s criticisms, investors reacted positively to the news, driving Apple’s stock market value to a record high above $3 trillion.
In July 2023, Musk launched his own AI company, xAI, with the mission to “understand reality.” The company officially launched in November.
The sudden withdrawal of Musk’s lawsuit raises many questions about his future strategy regarding OpenAI and his broader plans within the AI industry.