jakiro
Source: Heart of the Metaverse
AI companies led by Musk and Ultraman (referring to xAI and OpenAI) have been in fierce competition, and the two sides have recently directly publicly attacked each other.However, this is only part of the truth.
A few years ago, the two co-founded OpenAI.Today, Ultraman leads OpenAI, while Musk left OpenAI, which later born ChatGPT, in 2018, created his own artificial intelligence company xAI, and recently launched its artificial intelligence chatbot Grok.
And now,Musk is suing Ultraman and OpenAI, said they betrayed the company’s founding principles, to open source artificial intelligence technology and work to become “AGI nonprofit organizations that benefit humanity.”
In fact, the intricate relationship between Musk and Ultraman has been around for many years.
In 2015, Musk and Ultraman co-founded OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, along with Peter Thiel, LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, and Y Combinator co-founder Jessica Livingston.
According to a statement from OpenAI website on December 11, 2015, the organization aims to create a non-profit organization,Focus on developing artificial intelligence “in the way that best benefits all humanity”.
At that time, Musk said that artificial intelligence is the “biggest existential threat” to human beings.
Another statement announcing the establishment of OpenAI reads: “It is hard to imagine how much benefits AI at the human level will bring to society, and it is also hard to imagine how much AI will bring to society if it is not developed or used properly.The dangers of
01. Musk stepped down from the OpenAI Board of Directors in 2018
“As Tesla continues to focus more on artificial intelligence, this will eliminate potential conflicts in Musk’s future,” OpenAI said in a blog post at the time, adding that Musk will continue to provide guidance and donations.”
A relevant person revealed that with Musk’s departure,He also gave up on his promise to provide additional funds to OpenAI.
“It’s very hard, I had to readjust my life and time to make sure we have enough funds,” Ultraman said in an interview.
It is reported that in 2023,Ultraman and other co-founders of OpenAI reject Musk’s proposal to manage the company in 2018.
Semafor reported that Musk wanted to run the company alone and tried to beat Google.However, when his proposal to run a company was rejected,Musk withdrew his funds immediatelyand left the OpenAI board of directors.
In 2019, Musk shared some insights about his decision to leave.One of the reasons is that he “disagrees” with the direction of OpenAI.
“I had to focus on solving a lot of engineering and manufacturing problems with Tesla and SpaceX,” Musk wrote on Twitter.
“Also, Tesla is also competing for some of the same talent as OpenAI, and I don’t agree with some of the things the OpenAI team wants to do. All of this adds up and it’s better to break up friendly.”
02. Musk criticized OpenAI many times after resigning
Two years after leaving the job, Musk said in response to an article from the MIT Technology Review:OpenAI should be more open.”
The article reports that although OpenAI often claims to be committed to transparency, there is actually a “culture of confidentiality”.
Musk also added: “There is not a high confidence in Dario’s security”, referring to Dario Amodei, who led the OpenAI strategy at the time.
In December 2022, days after OpenAI released ChatGPT, Musk said the company had accessed Twitter (now owned by Musk) database in advance to train AI chatbots, and Musk is putting the work on hold.
Musk believes that OpenAI launches in open source and non-profit form, requiring further understanding of future governance structures and revenue plans, but obviously neither of these has been achieved.Meanwhile, Musk is very angry at ChatGPT’s success.
In November 2022, ChatGPT soared into the sky and won the favor of millions of users. From writing essays to writing basic code, it can do everything.
In February 2023, Musk doubled down on his denial.Said the current OpenAI “is not my original intention at all”.
“OpenAI was created as an open source (which is why I named it ‘Open’ Artificial Intelligence), a nonprofit company that aims to compete with Google,But now it has become a closed source company with maximum profits, actually controlled by Microsoft.This is completely inconsistent with my original intention.”
Musk reiterated this statement a month later.
“I still donate how the nonprofit that I donated about $100 million is a $30 billion market capitalization. If this is legal, why don’t everyone do that?”
03. Musk turns his complaint into litigation
He sued OpenAI, Ultraman and co-founder Greg Brockman,Said the company’s direction in recent years violates its founding principles.
His lawyer said OpenAI “has become the de facto closed-source subsidiary of the world’s largest technology company” and is “completed a universal artificial intelligence (AGI) to maximize profits for Microsoft, not for the benefit of mankind.”
OpenAI has not responded to requests to comment on the lawsuit.
04. Ultraman solved some of Musk’s dissatisfaction with OpenAI
Ultraman once said last year: “If you want to talk about Musk’s strengths, I think he does care about the bright future of artificial intelligence.”
“I mean, Musk is a bastard, no matter what you want to say about him. His style is not the style I want, but I think he really cares and he’s very nervous about the future of humanity.”
Ultraman also explained that Musk’s claim that OpenAI has become “a closed source code and profit-maximizing company that is actually controlled by Microsoft”: “Most of the statements are not true, I think Elon knows that.”
Although Musk “obviously attacked” OpenAI on Twitter,Ultraman still calls Musk one of his heroes.
On the March 2023 Lex Fridman podcast, Ultraman said: “Elon is obviously attacking us on Twitter now from several different angles.”
Still, he called Musk one of his heroes, adding: “I believe Musk is really under great pressure on AGI safety, which is understandable. I learned something from him’s super precious’Experience.’
According to Fortune, during a speech at University College London in May, Ultraman was asked what he learned from different mentors.He spoke of Musk in his answer.
“Of course, it’s very valuable to learn from Musk, and you don’t need to accept the fact that hard research and development and hard technology aren’t something you can ignore.”
Musk had signed an open letter signed by more than 1,000 people calling for a suspension of training of advanced artificial intelligence systems for six months.
The letter was also signed by several artificial intelligence experts.The letter mentioned the concerns about the potential risks of human beings.
“We should develop it only when we are convinced that a powerful AI system will have a positive impact and that its risks are controllable,” the letter said.
However, according to the New Yorker, while Musk publicly called for a suspension,He is quietly building his artificial intelligence competitor xAI.
After that, Musk briefly canceled his attention to Ultraman on Twitter and then followed him again.In addition, Ultraman later mocked Musk for claiming to be a “liberal speech absolutist.”
Twitter recently blocked users from retweeting or replying to tweets containing such links in posts linked to rival Substack, and then did the opposite.Ultraman replied to a tweet about this situation and wrote sarcastically: “It’s really the ultimate absolute freedom of speech.”
Ultraman joked,He will watch the rumored cage fight between Musk and Zuckerberg.
He said at the Bloomberg Technology Summit in June this year: “If he and Zach really do this, I will go and see it.” However, he also said that he does not think he will challenge Musk in hand-to-hand combat.
Ultraman also repeated his previous sentences about Musk’s AI stance.
“He really cares about the security of artificial intelligence, We have disagreements in some ways, but we are all concerned about this issue and he wants to make sure our world has the greatest chance of getting good results.”
Additionally, Ultraman recently told The New Yorker that Musk has taken a one-on-one approach to broader issues.
“Musk desperately wants the world to be saved. But only if he has to be the one who saves the world.”
