Elon Musk Withdraws Lawsuit Against OpenAI and Co-Founders

In a surprising turn of events, Elon Musk has withdrawn his lawsuit against OpenAI, along with its CEO Sam Altman and president Greg Brockman. The lawsuit, filed in California state court in February 2024, accused OpenAI of breaching a contract and fiduciary duty. This decision came just one day after Musk publicly criticized OpenAI’s new partnership with Apple.

The court filing  indicates the case was dismissed “without prejudice,” meaning it could be re-filed in the future. Originally, Musk had accused OpenAI, Altman, and Brockman of straying from their initial goal. He claimed that their mission of developing artificial general intelligence (AGI) “for the benefit of humanity” had shifted towards a for-profit model heavily influenced by Microsoft, a major shareholder in OpenAI.

A hearing scheduled for the following day in San Francisco aimed to determine whether the judge would dismiss the case as requested by the defendants. Experts had previously expressed doubts about the lawsuit’s legal foundation due to the lack of a formal written agreement between all parties involved.

Elon Musk, Image Credit: David Swanson|Reuters

Instead of pursuing his legal challenge, Musk appears to be focusing on his own AI venture, xAI. Notably, xAI recently secured a significant $6 billion Series B funding round with backing from prominent investors like Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital, and Fidelity Management & Research Company.

According to xAI’s website, their mission is to “understand the true nature of the universe.” They have already launched a chatbot named Grok, inspired by the science fiction comedy series “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.” Grok reportedly utilizes real-time internet knowledge and boasts two months of training data.

Representatives for both Musk and Altman did not respond to requests for comment at the time of publication.

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