Elon Musk has dropped his lawsuit against OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman, which accused the ChatGPT maker of breaching a contract by abandoning its original mission to create artificial intelligence (AI) for the benefit of humanity.
CNBC reported on Tuesday that the case was dismissed without prejudice, which means the SpaceX and Tesla boss could file the lawsuit again.
No reason was given as to why he dropped the case.
Musk, who helped co-found OpenAI in 2015 before leaving and launching his own AI company later this year, filed the lawsuit in February this year and claimed that the company had set “aflame” its founding mission that artificial general intelligence (AGI) would put people ahead of profit when it signed a deal worth billions with Microsoft.
“To this day, OpenAI Inc’s website continues to profess that its charter is to ensure that AGI ‘benefits all of humanity’,” Musk alleged in the suit.
“In reality, however, OpenAI Inc has been transformed into a closed-source de facto subsidiary of the largest technology company in the world: Microsoft”.
OpenAI said Musk’s claim was “contrived” and there was no founding agreement, and even leaked emails with the Tesla chief which countered his claims.
Musk’s lawsuit reversal comes one day before judges were scheduled to review OpenAI’s request to dismiss the case. It also comes a day after Musk said he would ban the use of Apple devices at his companies if Apple integrates OpenAI’s technology into its products.
