By Anna Tong
San Francisco (Reuters) – A dozen former Openai employees filed a legal thesis on Friday, the co -founder Elon Musk aimed to maintain the non -profit status of OpenAi, marking the last development in the dispute over the future of the artificial intelligence society.
Business leaders want to give investors control, drawing a multitude of concerns and a Musk and others trial who say that commercial interests must be subordinate to humanitarian objectives.
Last year, Musk, which is also the CEO of the Tesla electric car manufacturer, continued Openai and his CEO Sam Altman, accusing Openai of having moved away from its founding mission – of developing AI for the good of humanity, not the profit of companies. Openai and Altman denied allegations.
On Friday, in their file of federal court, the former employees argued that the stripping of the non -profit organization of its control role “would fundamentally violate its mission, because it would lose the supervision of the development entity of the for profit.
Former Openai employees, who declared that they had occupied technical and leadership positions in the company, said that surveillance of the non -profit organization was crucial for its global strategy, and that, even if they worked in the company, Openai managers had repeatedly stressed the importance of the structure in the ability of Openai to carry out its mission. The structure has also contributed to recruitment, and many employees joined because they were inspired by the mission of the non-profit organization, they said.
Openai argued that it had to delete the non -profit organization’s control role in order to collect investor funds. The non -profit organization will retain participation in Openai which will become more and more precious as the company will develop, enriching the non -profit organization with deep resources to carry out its mission, supports the company.
In a press release, Openai said that the transition would not affect its mission: “Our board of directors has been very clear: our non -profit organization is going anywhere and that our mission will remain the same.”
Musk and Altman co -founded Chatgpt Maker Openai in 2015, but Musk left before the company became a star of technology. Musk’s opposition to the change of structure led to the current pursuit, and the two parties should start a trial with jury in the spring of next year.
Recently, Musk also created his own IA, XAI, 2023, and Altman business that Musk tried to slow down a competitor.
OPENAI, on the other hand, faces the pressure of investors to change its structure. For Openai to keep a round of fundraising of $ 40 billion, the company must carry out its transition by the end of the year.
(Report by Anna Tong in San Francisco; edition by Diane Craft)
