(
OPEN Artificial
Intelligence) A research laboratory created in 2015 to develop an artificial general intelligence (AGI) that is available to everyone. OpenAI has made major contributions to the community (see
DALL-E,
Q-Star and
OpenAI Codex).
Although OpenAI was founded by 10 individuals, Elon Musk and Sam Altman have received most of the publicity. OpenAI is famous for its GPT large language models, from which ChatGPT was derived (see
GPT and
ChatGPT). As of 2023, Microsoft had invested $11 billion in OpenAI and is entitled to 49% of the profits from the for-profit arm of the company.
Out After Three Years
In 2018, Musk was unhappy about the progress OpenAI was making and offered to run the company himself. When the OpenAI board turned him down, Musk left to form his own AI company (see
xAI).
Altman Was Out for Less Than a Week
In November 2023, the board of OpenAI removed Altman, claiming they had no confidence in his leadership. However, after pressure from OpenAI employees and investors, Altman was reinstated within a few days.
Musk Sued OpenAI
In February 2024, Elon Musk sued OpenAI and Sam Altman over alleged breaches in contracts. Musk claimed that OpenAI was no longer open source and the company was no longer a non-profit entity. Musk's lawsuit claimed that because Microsoft is so heavily invested in OpenAI that OpenAI's goal has become about profit and keeping the GPT code secret. In March 2024, Musk said if the company changed its name to "ClosedAI," he would drop the lawsuit. Three months later, he did drop the suit without explanation, and OpenAI remained OpenAI. See
AGI.