Indian-American billionaire Vinod Khosla has criticized Elon Musk's decision to sue OpenAI, calling it “a case of sour grapes”. Mr Khosla, the co-founder of Sun Microsystems, suggested the Tesla billionaire had not gotten into the AI game early enough. Notably, Elon Musk was OpenAI's largest donor when it was a nonprofit, while Mr. Khosla was the first venture capitalist to invest in OpenAI's ChatGPT when the company transitioned from a nonprofit to a private company in 2019.
In a tweet, he wrote: “It feels like a bit of sour grapes to call out @OpenAI for not acting early enough, not staying committed, and now being a rival effort. As they say if you can't innovate, litigate and that's what we have here. Elon of old would build with us to achieve the same goal.”
See the message here:
Of @Elon Musk feels like a bit of sour grapes when suing @OpenAI , not intervening early enough, not staying committed and now a rival effort. As they say if you can't innovate, litigate and that's what we have here. Elon from the past would build with us to achieve the same…
— Vinod Khosla (@vkhosla) March 2, 2024
Musk responded, “Vinod doesn't know what he's talking about here.”
Vinod doesn't know what he is talking about here
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 2, 2024
When many pointed out that Musk was one of the early investors in OpenAI, Mr. Khosla clarified, saying, “Mistake in the wording of supply chain. @elonmusk acted early and bailed early when it looked like things were getting tough and keeping the mission required money on a massive scale to have any benefit to society.”
Elon Musk recently sued OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman, among others, for violating contractual agreements made when he helped found the ChatGPT maker in 2015. He claimed they violated the artificial intelligence startup's founding mission by putting profits above all else. benefit humanity.
The Microsoft-backed company's focus on pursuing profits violates that agreement, lawyers for Elon Musk said in the lawsuit.
Elon Musk co-founded OpenAI in 2015, but stepped down from the company's board of directors in 2018. ChatGPT, OpenAI's chatbot, became the fastest growing software application in the world within six months of its launch in November 2022. It also led to the launch of rival chatbots from Microsoft, Alphabet and a bevy of startups that capitalized on the hype to raise billions in funding.