In this photo illustration, the “OpenAI” logo is displayed on a mobile phone screen in front of a computer screen showing a photo of Musk and Sam Altman in Ankara, Turkey, on March 14, 2024.
Mohammad Selim Korkutata | Anatolia | Getty Images
On Tuesday, Musk withdrew his lawsuit against OpenAI and the company’s two co-founders, Sam Altman and Greg Brockman, in a California court. Musk’s decision to dismiss the lawsuit comes just one day after he publicly criticized OpenAI and its new partnership with Apple.
The case was dismissed without prejudice, according to a court document obtained by CNBC.
In February this year, Musk filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, Altman and Brockman (OpenAI’s current CEO and president respectively), accusing them of breach of contract and fiduciary duties.
A hearing is scheduled for Wednesday in San Francisco, where a judge will consider whether the case should be dismissed as requested by the defendants.
Experts told CNBC in March that the legal basis of the case was questionable because the contract at the heart of the lawsuit was not a formal written agreement signed by all parties involved.
Instead, Musk claimed that the early OpenAI team set out to develop artificial general intelligence (AGI) “for the benefit of humanity,” but that the project had been transformed into a for-profit entity controlled primarily by majority shareholder Microsoft.
Musk spent much of the 35-page complaint he filed in March (and the accompanying exhibits) reminding the world of his role in creating the company that became the largest company on the planet. One of the hottest new startups (OpenAI was ranked No. 1 on CNBC’s Top 50 Disruptors 2023 list) owes a lot to the virality of ChatGPT.
“It’s certainly a good ad for Elon Musk,” Kevin O’Brien, a partner at Ford O’Brien Landy LLP and a former assistant U.S. attorney, told CNBC at the time. “I’m not sure about the legal part, though. “
Last year, Musk launched his own artificial intelligence startup xAI, which is also a competitor of OpenAI. declare $6 billion in Series B financing. Investors include Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital and Fidelity Management Research.
According to the X.AI website, the company is dedicated to “understanding the true nature of the universe.” Last year, X.AI released a chatbot called Grok, which the company said was modeled after “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.” The company claims that the chatbot debuted after two months of training and has instant knowledge of the internet.
Representatives for Musk and Altman did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
—CNBC’s Lora Kolodny contributed to this report.
Correction: The lawsuit was filed in February. An earlier version of this story incorrectly described the month.
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