Elon Musk sues Sam Altman, Greg Brockman, and OpenAI [pdf]

Post by samstave » Fri, Mar 01, 2024, 5:32 PM UTC

dkjaudyeqooe wrote: post #324

siliconc0w wrote: post #248

There is a lot in here but turning a non-profit into a for-profit definitely should be challenged. Otherwise why wouldn't everyone start as a non-profit, develop your IP, and then switch to 'for-profit' mode once you got something that works? You don't pay income taxes and your investors get write offs.

The replies that say "well the profits go to the non-profit, all's good" miss the reality of these high profit nonprofits: the profits invariably end up in the pockets of management. Most of those are essentially scams, but it doesn't mean that OpenAI isn't just a more subtle scam. The hype and the credulity of the general public play right into this scam. People will more or less believe anything Sam the Money Gushi…

    2001: $4 billion

    2010: $8.35 billion

    2019: $15 billion

    2020: $12.2 billion

    2021: $17.19 billion

    2022: $18 billion

Post by dartos » Fri, Mar 01, 2024, 5:32 PM UTC

lanstin wrote: post #339

dartos wrote: post #256

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The only way to truly make a ton of wealth is to break rules that others follow.

This statement represents the complete disintegration of the optimism that ruled in the 90s and before when we ardently believed that networking and communication amongst people would increase understanding and improve lives by ensuring no one would be cut off from the common wisdom and knowledge of humanity. While robber baron economics certainly appeal to a lot of robber barons, the twentieth century pretty decisiv…

Post by foofie » Fri, Mar 01, 2024, 5:33 PM UTC

mikeyouse wrote: post #260

zoogeny wrote: post #233

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know how comparable it would be, but I imagine if I donated $44 million to a university under the agreement that they would use the money in a particular way (e.g. to build a specific building or to fund a specific program) and then the university used the money in some other way, I feel I ought to have some standing to sue them. Of course, this all depends on the investment details specified in a contract an…

Yeah - Had you donated the funds as "restricted funding" in the nonprofit parlance, they would have a legal requirement to use the funds as you had designated. It seems that Musk contributed general non-restricted funding so the nonprofit can more or less do what they want with the money.. Not saying there's no case here, but if he really wanted them to do something specific, there's a path for that to happen and tha…

Post by yieldcrv » Fri, Mar 01, 2024, 5:33 PM UTC

Post by wbl » Fri, Mar 01, 2024, 5:34 PM UTC

yawnxyz wrote: post #335

sigmoid10 wrote: post #278

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This. Even when we ignore the whole ethical aspect of "AI for benefit of humanity" and all that philosophic stuff, there are very real legal reasons why OpenAI should never have been allowed to switch to for profit. They were only able to circumvent this with their new dual company structure, but this should still not be legal.

didn't Firefox / Mozilla set that precedent already?