Court Filing by OpenAI Disputes Elon Musk’s Claims as ‘Incoherent’
OpenAI criticized Elon Musk’s accusations against it, stating in a legal document that the billionaire’s claims are based on complex and sometimes unclear factual foundations.
The strongly worded filing is the company’s first legal response to Musk’s February lawsuit against the company, CEO Sam Altman and President Greg Brockman. Musk argued that the startup had deviated from its mission to build responsible artificial intelligence and that it had become owned by Microsoft Corp., its largest investor.
In its filing, OpenAI emphasizes that it has not breached its contract with Musk because “there is no founding agreement or contract with Musk at all, as the complaint itself indicates.” OpenAI also disputed Musk’s claims in a memo to staff and a blog post last week.
“The relief Musk is seeking is as extraordinary as his claims are fabricated,” OpenAI said in its filing in state court in San Francisco. “Musk seeks an order forcing OpenAI to reorganize and share its technology under the terms of its sham contract.”
OpenAI and Musk have been engaged in a highly publicized battle well before the trial. Musk was an early backer of the startup and part of its founding team before falling out with the company. Musk has criticized OpenAI for its commercialization strategy and close relationship with Microsoft.
In a blog post, OpenAI said Musk had previously sought to make the company part of Tesla Inc., his car company. It also said in the filing that Musk supports OpenAI operating as a for-profit company, but only if he controls it. “Having seen the significant technical progress achieved by OpenAI, Musk now wants that success for himself,” the company’s lawyers wrote.
Musk and OpenAI did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The dispute between two of the tech’s biggest players touches on the core issues of AI safety and accessibility, and has spilled over into the wider startup world. On Monday, billionaire venture capitalist and OpenAI investor Vinod Khosla told Bloomberg TV that Musk could not challenge his way into AI.
OpenAI also claims in the filing that if a preliminary investigation and information sharing, known as discovery, begins in the case, Musk would use the lawsuit to gain access to OpenAI’s “proprietary records and technology,” and warned that discovery requests “must be closely monitored.”
OpenAI also requested that the court designate the lawsuit as a “complex case,” which is intended under California rules to avoid making the case an unnecessary burden on the court and litigants. Cases are generally considered complex and assigned to specially appointed judges when they involve complex and technical issues, multiple parties and numerous claims.
