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Testified for the second day in a US court... "Filed the lawsuit belatedly because concerns materialized"
Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, who filed a lawsuit against Sam Altman, CEO, alleging that OpenAI abandoned its non-profit mission and took unjust enrichment, said that he had these concerns since Microsoft (MS) invested in OpenAI.
CEO Musk testified on the 29th (local time) at a trial held at the Oakland branch of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California that Microsoft's $10 billion (approximately 14.8 trillion won) investment was the decisive moment that made him suspicious of OpenAI, Reuters and U.S. economic broadcaster CNBC reported.
Testifying for the second consecutive day, he said, "At the time, I texted Altman, asking 'What on earth is going on?' and protested, 'This is a bait-and-switch tactic.'"
He pointed out, "If it's a sum of $10 billion, it's absolutely impossible for MS to give that money simply as a donation or for charity," calling it "an amount that makes no sense."
He then asked, "I'm sorry to say this to MS, but do you really want to give control of digital superintelligence to MS?" and claimed, "I lost trust in Altman at the end of 2022, and I was concerned that they were trying to steal a public interest organization, which turned out to be true."
When asked why he filed the lawsuit belatedly, he replied, "Thinking someone might steal a car is different from someone actually stealing a car," adding, "It's because my concerns later materialized."
He lamented that the initial $38 million he provided was used to create a for-profit company worth $800 billion, saying, "I was a fool," and pointed out, "One should not accumulate wealth through a non-profit organization."
He further emphasized that he was the one who recruited Ilya Sutskever, who served as OpenAI's chief scientist.
When asked about the reason for establishing his AI company xAI as a for-profit entity, he retorted, "I made all companies except OpenAI that way," and explained, "xAI is strictly speaking a competitor to OpenAI, but it is a very small company with a negligible market share."
OpenAI claims that CEO Musk filed this lawsuit due to the competitive relationship between OpenAI and xAI, but Musk effectively denied this by mentioning the scale difference between the two companies.
Musk's abrasive speaking style also came under scrutiny.
When OpenAI's lawyers asked him, 'Have you ever used derogatory language like 'jackass' towards OpenAI personnel?' he replied, "I might have."
He explained, "I'm not someone who gets angry or shouts, but sometimes I use strong language to make employees uncomfortable when they are about to make fatal choices that could ruin the company."
CEO Musk filed a lawsuit in 2024, claiming that he suffered damages as OpenAI abandoned its promise to operate as a non-profit and became a for-profit company, and that CEO Altman and President Greg Brockman gained unjust enrichment in the process.
CEO Musk is demanding that CEO Altman and President Brockman be dismissed and that the $134 billion (approximately 198 trillion won) in unjust enrichment they acquired be returned to the OpenAI Foundation, a non-profit parent organization.
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