Meta backs Musk: OpenAI blocked?

Meta has seemingly sided with Elon Musk—who is filing a lawsuit against them for abandoning their original, founding mission to develop AI for the benefit of humanity— and demanded that OpenAI be stopped from becoming a for-profit company.

In a letter, written to the Californian General Attorney–Rob Bonta—they ask for “direct action” to be taken to stop OpenAI from transitioning from a non-profit to a for-profit because it would have “seismic implications for Silicon Valley.”

They feel that OpenAI shouldn’t be allowed to “flout the law by taking and reappropriating assets it built as a charity and using them for potentially enormous private gains,” believing that if this move is allowed, it will encourage  “investors to launch organizations as non-profits, collect hundreds of millions of dollars in tax-free donations to support research and development, and then assume for-profit status as its technology becomes commercially viable.”

In response to this letter, OpenAI’s board chair, Bret Taylor, said OpenAI is “focused on fulfilling our fiduciary obligation by ensuring that the company is well-positioned to continue advancing its mission of ensuring AGI benefits all of humanity.”

OpenAI is under immense pressure to make the move to become a for-profit corporation, so it can attract further funding—which will no doubt go towards its overwhelming overheads and speed up the advancements in AI, enabling it to remain competitive. Plus, if they don’t transition to a for-profit within 2 years, they will have to repay their existing investors the funding they received this year, plus interest.