Tesla's "destroy if can't get"? OpenAI publicly responds, exposing screenshots of email exchanges with executives over 8 years.

Author: Ge Jiaming

Source: Hard AI

The battle between OpenAI and Tesla has escalated and remains intense! OpenAI officially responded on its website, "Rejecting all claims made by Tesla".

On March 1st, Tesla filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, CEO and co-founder Sam Altman, and Greg Brockman, taking the conflict from the founding of OpenAI in 2015 to the courtroom. The 46-page appeal focused on the words "non-profit" and "open-source", alleging that OpenAI violated the agreement by developing technology for the benefit of humanity rather than profit, demanding Altman to repay.

Just now, OpenAI released a lengthy article titled "OpenAI and Elon Musk", formally refuting all accusations made by Tesla. They shared detailed email exchanges with Tesla since 2015, addressing three points:

1. Building AGI will require more resources than initially imagined;

2. OpenAI and Tesla recognized the need for a for-profit entity to access these resources;

3. The 'Open' in OpenAI means everyone should benefit from the results of AI, not open-source.

Regarding the most crucial three points, OpenAI stated that Tesla was dissatisfied for not benefiting from OpenAI's achievements, hence the lawsuit. The investment required for AGI is more than anticipated. Initially, both parties acknowledged the necessity of establishing a for-profit entity, but Tesla had attempted to control the company for a potential merger with Tesla, which failed. The lawsuit was filed after OpenAI achieved success:

The resources and investment needed to build Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) are more than initially imagined, and both the company and Tesla realize that to obtain these resources, it is necessary to establish a for-profit entity. However, we could not reach an agreement on the terms of the for-profit entity.

We believe that any individual having absolute control over OpenAI contradicts our mission. Later, he proposed merging OpenAI into Tesla. In early February 2018, Tesla's email suggested that OpenAI should be " merged into Tesla as its cash cow," and he believed "this decision is absolutely correct... Joining Tesla is the only choice for OpenAI to compete with Google."

OpenAI stated that Tesla has always understood that achieving OpenAI's mission does not require open-sourcing. 'Open' means everyone should benefit from the results of AI, as seen in the conversation between Ilya and Tesla below:

In fact, open-sourcing may increase risks. As we get closer to building AI, maintaining less openness may be more meaningful. The 'Open' in OpenAI means everyone should benefit from the results of AI, but it does not mean that all scientific research and technical details must be publicly shared, especially as we approach critical stages in achieving AI technology. Tesla's response: "Yes".

Unable to merge with Tesla, is Tesla anxious?

OpenAI bluntly stated that when OpenAI was founded at the end of 2015, Tesla knew the massive financial investment required for AI development. Initially, Greg Brockman and Sam Altman planned to raise $100 million, but in an email, Tesla stated that considering the huge expenditures of Google and Facebook, the fundraising amount should reach $1 billion, with the shortfall to be made up by Elon Musk:

However, the resource costs for building AGI far exceeded the initial estimates. By the end of 2017, both OpenAI and Tesla realized that to obtain these resources, they must establish a for-profit entity. In early 2018, Tesla proposed for OpenAI to join Tesla, but it was unsuccessful:

We decided that the next step was to create a for-profit entity, but Elon wanted to have a majority stake, control of the board, and be the CEO. We couldn't reach an agreement, he paused the funding, and Reid Hoffman filled the funding gap, paying salaries and operating expenses.

Tesla hoped that we would merge with them, as a "cash cow" for Tesla, claiming that joining Tesla was the only choice for OpenAI to compete with Google.

As OpenAI rejected the agreement to join Tesla, Elon Musk soon chose to leave and bluntly stated that the probability of OpenAI's success was 0. He planned to establish an AGI competitor within Tesla:

When he left at the end of February 2018, he told our team that he supported us in finding billions of dollars in funding on our own. In December 2018, Tesla emailed us again saying, "Raising a few billion dollars is far from enough. AGI requires investments of billions of dollars annually, otherwise forget about it.

Tesla provided over $15 million in funding to OpenAI in 2016, surpassing other donors and helping to assemble a top talent team at OpenAI. The following year, Tesla donated nearly $20 million to OpenAI. From 2016 to September 2020, Tesla invested over $44 million in OpenAI. Tesla leased the initial office space for OpenAI and paid rent, emphasizing its involvement in the company's significant milestones.

In their announcement, OpenAI did not question Tesla's contributions in the early days of OpenAI. They admired the person who had inspired OpenAI to strive for higher goals but ended up suing them when OpenAI made progress:

However, it is evident that Tesla's predictions for OpenAI in 2018 were proven wrong by reality.

When ChatGPT was launched in November, OpenAI immediately became the hottest new tech startup, prompting Google to scramble to catch up. Tesla was very angry about this. In December, Tesla violated a contract signed before acquiring Twitter and revoked OpenAI's access to Twitter's "firehose" data stream.

On February 17th last year, Tesla wrote on X: "OpenAI was created as an open-source non-profit to counterbalance Google, but now it has become a profit-maximizing company effectively controlled by Microsoft."

Following that, Tesla posted again on X: "I am still puzzled how a non-profit organization I donated about $100 million to has turned into a $30 billion profit-making entity. If this is legal, why not let others do the same?"

Subsequently, he posted "I believe everything will get better," but in an emoji, he wrote: "I realize that artificial intelligence, the most powerful tool in human history, is now in the hands of ruthless corporate monopolies."

Therefore, some analysts believe that the dispute between Tesla and OpenAI may not be related to their status as for-profit entities.

OpenAI leaving Google behind undoubtedly deeply stung Tesla, who had left years ago, leaving him disconnected from the most exciting happenings in the tech world today. Tesla's current goal is to establish its own artificial intelligence startup. However, he will now bear the costly "pastime" of dealing with Twitter.

One More Thing

OpenAI's public response sparked a social media frenzy, with everyone also noting a sentence in the emails between the two parties, "Unfortunately, the future of humanity is in the hands of xxx." Netizens speculated who xxx might be - Google?