Elon Musk’s legal team took a step back on Tuesday, withdrawing the billionaire’s lawsuit against OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman. This move brought an end to a protracted legal dispute between the co-founders of the AI startup.
In March, Musk, a co-founder of OpenAI in 2015, filed a lawsuit alleging that the organization had strayed from its original nonprofit mission by keeping some of its most advanced AI technology exclusive to private clients. The lawsuit aimed for a jury trial and demanded that the company, Altman, and co-founder Greg Brockman repay any profits derived from the business.
OpenAI swiftly countered Musk’s allegations, denouncing them as “incoherent” and “frivolous.” They argued for the case’s dismissal in a court filing and also took the step of publishing a blog post containing excerpts from Musk’s emails during OpenAI’s early days.
These emails seemed to reveal Musk’s acknowledgment of the necessity for OpenAI to generate significant revenue to finance the computing resources essential for its AI endeavors. This directly contradicted Musk’s assertions in the lawsuit that OpenAI was pursuing profit unlawfully.
Musk’s legal team did not provide a specific reason for their decision to drop the lawsuit in Tuesday’s filing. A hearing on OpenAI’s motion to dismiss the case was set for Wednesday.
