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🏠 Elon vs Open AI

🏠 Elon vs Open AI

He returns to court

Brett Goldstein
March 04, 2024

Gm! It’s Brett! Some exciting news - I’ll be taking over writing Homescreen and we’re switching the newsletter to just once a week! With so many awesome newsletters in inboxes these days, we figured we’d take a step back and focus our energy on just 1 edition each week. We may also be experimenting with the format down the line - all feedback is welcome - but we’ll continue bringing you the best tech, AI and crypto news and memes every week no matter what!

Also, Stephen will be continuing on with his own endeavours - you can follow him on Twitter here.

🏠 AI

Elon: “My Ex Is Evil”

When Elon Musk helped found OpenAI in 2015, the mission was clear: artificial intelligence should benefit all of humanity. The word "open" was key. Fast forward to 2024, and OpenAI sits atop the AI scene, valued at $86 billion! But something isn't right, at least according to Elon. In a surprise lawsuit, he's accusing his former partners of selling out that founding ideal.

At the heart of the lawsuit is Microsoft. Back in 2019, OpenAI shifted its structure, creating a for-profit arm that took a $1 billion investment from Microsoft. Sure, there's still a non-profit part of it, but it's all a bit... shady.

What Elon is basically saying is: nonprofits shouldn't drastically change their mission without being transparent. Imagine donating to an organization to protect the Amazon rainforest, only to find out the organization became a profit-driven logging company. He believes this deceptive practice shouldn't be allowed by default.

OpenAI has gone from an idealistic project to a Microsoft subsidiary with profit, not humanity as the primary motive, as per the lawsuit.

Elon is particularly salty about the way OpenAI's tech is now closed-source and costs a pretty penny to use. He sees this as a betrayal of the founding principles.

Is Elon feeling FOMO with everything that’s happening at OpenAI, or is he just trying to buy some time for xAI? 👀

The Big Picture: This isn't just about OpenAI anymore. The Elon vs. OpenAI drama exposes deep-rooted questions about AI development:

Can groundbreaking AI research exist without the drive for massive profit?
Is it possible for a company that was originally founded as open-source and non-profit to change course and become closed-source and for-profit?
Is it ethical for a potentially world-altering technology to reside in the hands of a single company?

Some interesting tweets on this saga:

One of the most interesting paragraphs in the Elon vs Open AI lawsuit.
The claim is you can't just get tax breaks as a non-profit and then become for-profit after product-market fit.
— Deedy (@debarghya_das)
Mar 2, 2024

OpenAI Website 2015 vs 2024
The only thing changed in its mission "unconstrained by a need to generate financial return"
— DogeDesigner (@cb_doge)
Mar 1, 2024

The state of AI following the OpenAI lawsuit
— Trung Phan (@TrungTPhan)
Mar 1, 2024

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