(Photo
by
Apu
Gomes/Getty
Images)
Elon
Musk
sued
OpenAI
claiming
that
he’d
been
duped
when
he
invested
in
the
folks
behind
ChatGPT.
Musk
asserted
that
he
thought
he
was
investing
in
a
non-profit
and
OpenAI’s
business
partnership
with
Microsoft
—
through
a
for-profit
subsidiary
—
amounts
to
a
bait-and-switch.
On
the
eve
of
a
hearing
on
the
motion
to
dismiss,
Musk
dropped
the
suit.
Which
is
probably
for
the
best
before
someone
has
to
walk
into
a
courtroom
with
arguments
like
these:
“Imagine
donating
to
a
non-profit
whose
asserted
mission
is
to
protect
the
Amazon
rainforest,
but
then
the
non-profit
creates
a
for-profit
Amazonian
logging
company
that
uses
the
fruits
of
the
donations
to
clear
the
rainforest.
That
is
the
story
of
OpenAI,
Inc.,”
Musk
said.
Well,
more
like
the
non-profit
creates
a
for-profit
eco-tourism
company
using
the
fruits
of
a
protected
rainforest.
And
while
a
hypothetical
environmentalist
might
still
object
to
that,
it’s
a
far
cry
from
a
pivot
to
clear-cutting.
OpenAI’s
for-profit
ventures
are
still
controlled
by
the
non-profit
entity.
Essentially,
the
non-profit
decided
that
a
limited
for-profit
business
would
best
serve
the
non-profit
mission
by
bringing
funds
to
the
greater
charitable
mission.
As
explained
in
the
Columbia
Law
School
Blue
Sky
Blog:
In
short,
Nonprofit-OpenAI’s
charitable
purposes
were
meant
to
guide
the
whole
operation.
Those
purposes,
found
in
Nonprofit-OpenAI’s
Delaware certificate
of
incorporation,
are
“to
provide
for
research,
development
and
distribution
of
technology
related
to
artificial
intelligence.
The
resulting
technology
will
benefit
the
public
and
the
corporation
will
seek
to
open
source
technology
for
the
public
when
applicable.”
“When
applicable”
is
open
to
a
lot
of
interpretation
but
at
the
very
least
contemplates
that,
in
some
cases,
OpenAI
would
not
be
making
the
technology
open
source.
OpenAI
—
the
non-profit
—
has
fiduciary
duties
to
ensure
that
the
for-profit
work
is
oriented
toward
furthering
the
non-profit
goals.
And
if
the
board
is
breaching
those
duties,
regulators
can
get
involved.
Given
the
events
of
the
last
several
months
—
CEO
Sam
Altman’s
whirlwind
ouster
and
return
—
those
agencies
probably
should
start
poking
around.
But
a
donor
to
an
entity
that
explicitly
says
in
its
governing
documents
that
it’s
not
always
going
to
make
its
products
open
source
doesn’t
present
the
strongest
legal
challenge.
What,
exactly,
did
Musk
think
OpenAI
would
do
with
the
AI
tools
it
built?
This
is
a
guy
whose
primary
claim
to
fame
is
charging
$70K
to
make
cars
for
eco-minded
consumers
so
spare
the
“environmentalism
should
be
a
charity”
narrative.
At
a
certain
point
the
hippy-dippy
non-profit
was
going
to
make
a
product
with
a
business
application
and
then
it
was
supposed
to…
what?
Zealously
guard
its
IP
from
ever
seeing
the
light
of
day?
We’re
not
talking
about
the
HAL
9000
here
—
it’s
a
Clippy
redux.
To
belabor
the
analogy
a
bit
longer,
the
rainforest
has
value
in
being
left
alone.
Artificial
intelligence
does
not.
Whatever
tool
OpenAI
developed
would
have
some
application.
The
organization
can
control
what
it
releases
to
the
public
with
its
twin
edicts
to
be
“safe
and
beneficial”
and
to
try
to
provide
tech
to
the
masses
when
it
can
in
mind,
but
at
some
point
it
would
have
a
technology
that
could
be
and
is
in
fact
better
utilized
by
a
business.
Say
what
you
will
about
private
enterprise,
but
unleashing
artificial
intelligence
to
the
public
domain
isn’t
necessarily
“safe
and
beneficial”
either.
With
the
lawsuit
dropped,
Mr.
“Why
Aren’t
We
Preserving
the
Rainforest”
here
can
get
back
to
trying
to
build
his
own
rival
AI
manufacturer
to
compete
with
OpenAI.
It’s
almost
as
though
the
idea
that
AI
should
be
shielded
from
the
vagaries
of
capitalism
isn’t
a
real
priority
for
him
at
all.
Joe
Patrice is
a
senior
editor
at
Above
the
Law
and
co-host
of
Thinking
Like
A
Lawyer.
Feel
free
to email
any
tips,
questions,
or
comments.
Follow
him
on Twitter if
you’re
interested
in
law,
politics,
and
a
healthy
dose
of
college
sports
news.
Joe
also
serves
as
a
Managing
Director
at
RPN
Executive
Search.
