The fight that could reveal the secrets of the AI ​​giants

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Published 19.17

 

Open AI's Sam Altman and Elon Musk, the world's richest man. The picture is a montage. Photo: AP/TT (Montage)

Elon Musk and Sam Altman don't like each other. Now they're settling in a lawsuit that risks shaking up the AI ​​industry.

 

From previously being partners, the two tech profiles have begun a multi-year, infected fight. The latest chapter begins on Monday when a trial starts in a case in California, USA.

In one corner of the cockfighting ring is Elon Musk, the world's richest man, who claims that his millions have been used fraudulently by Open AI in the start-up phase of the company's journey.

In the other corner of the ring is Sam Altman, CEO of Open AI, who claims that Elon Musk is a liar and a b

ad loser.

Companions

Open AI is today known as one of the world's most valuable companies and as the company behind Chat GPT – the service that started the entire AI boom.

But before that, Open AI was a company with a clear non-profit focus. A focus that is especially important, because it is something that Elon Musk claims that Open AI has "fiddled away" through, among other things, his early contribution of $38 million.

The company's focus, as a shield against the potential existential threat that AI poses to humanity, has also cracked – says Musk.

"I have thought a lot about whether it is possible to stop humanity from developing AI. I think the answer is almost guaranteed to be no. If it is going to happen anyway, it makes sense for someone other than Google to do it first," Altman wrote in an email to Musk in 2015, The Guardian reports.

Enemies

A couple of years later, Musk wanted total control of Open AI, according to Altman. The two parted ways as enemies and Open AI has increasingly moved towards commercialization.

Elon Musk therefore wants $134 billion in damages and for Altman to be kicked out of the company. However, Musk says the money should not go into his own pockets but into the non-profit part of Open AI.

Open AI has simply deceived Musk, who runs XAI with the Grok service, among other things, and played on his “humanitarian concerns,” according to Musk’s camp.

Secrets

Which of Altman and Musk emerges victorious from the ring and the legal battle will most likely just become a historical footnote.

The real explosive, with potential impact on each combatant’s company, comes from the interrogations that await both Musk, Altman and others within the tech world’s extreme elite. There, the profiles are expected to be asked to answer questions about several companies' strategies, investments and future, as well as how dangerous AI really is to humanity.

FACTS

Popular AI services

Exactly how many users different AI services have is difficult to verify. The different companies involved often define users in different ways. Some services also interact with each other.

According to media reports and publicly available statistics, Open AI's Chat GPT is by far the most popular AI service. A rough estimate is that Chat GPT has at least 600 million active users each month. Chat GPT also has an estimated 80 percent of the market when it comes to chat services.

According to the Internet Foundation's report Swedes and the Internet 2025, one in three Swedes has used Chat GPT in the past year. The figure for Gemini was 2 percent.