OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, already under antitrust scrutiny for its close ties to Microsoft, is now the subject of a complaint by billionaire Elon Musk, who accuses it of “betraying” its original mission, AFP reports.

The boss of Tesla, SpaceX and X (formerly Twitter) founded OpenAI in 2015 with Sam Altman, who is still CEO, but left the organization in 2018 and is now one of its most vocal critics.

In documents filed Thursday evening in a San Francisco court, the wealthy entrepreneur accuses OpenAI and Sam Altman of not living up to the principles on which the company was founded.

According to Elon Musk, the development of OpenAI in 2023 is a “blatant betrayal of the founding agreement.”

OpenAI was founded as a non-profit organization working for the benefit of humanity and developing artificial intelligence (AI) software that is “open source” (available, modifiable, usable and redistributable for everyone).

Contrary to its original goals, OpenAI did not release the code of its latest model, GPT-4, “in violation of the original contract,” Elon Musk’s lawyers say in the complaint.

The founding agreement was therefore completely called into question, they argued, accusing OpenAI of profit-seeking “with potentially catastrophic consequences for humanity.”

“Have they deviated from what they proclaim to be their mission? I would definitely say yes,” University of Houston law professor Nicholas Guggenberger told AFP. “But this is not necessarily sufficient grounds for a lawsuit filed by someone who is no longer part of the project,” he added.

“De facto subsidiary” of Microsoft

“OpenAI has been turned into a de facto subsidiary (…) of the world’s largest technology company: Microsoft,” Musk’s lawyers continued.

The release in late 2022 of ChatGPT, a generative artificial intelligence interface that popularized this content production technology (text, sound, images, etc.), turned OpenAI into a Silicon Valley star.

Microsoft has invested about $13 billion in it in recent years, and the two companies sell generative artificial intelligence services to developers and individuals.

“Contrary to the original contract, [aceștia] they chose to use GPT-4 not for the good of humanity, but as their own technology to maximize the profits of the world’s largest company,” Musk’s complaint reads.

Last year, he founded his own artificial intelligence company xAI.

In particular, it demands the exclusion of GPT-4 from the OpenAI license to Microsoft, as well as damages.

OpenAI did not respond to AFP’s request, and Microsoft declined to comment.

“Elon is right (…) He didn’t get what he paid for and worked for,” AI expert Gary Marcus responded in his newsletter.