Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, spoke at the DealBook Summit last week.
a three byline story at @nytimes today covering what @KelseyTuoc reported two months agohttps://t.co/KVXKlOZLEDhttps://t.co/C4S30XOm4f
— Rachel Cohen (@rmc031) December 17, 2024
He addressed concerns about the pace of growth in AI and the potential for Elon Musk to use his relationship with President-elect Donald Trump to hurt competitors. Altman said that artificial general intelligence will arrive “sooner than most people in the world think.” He also discussed his relationship with Musk, who co-founded OpenAI but has since become one of its major antagonists.
“I grew up with Elon as a mega hero,” Altman said.
“I have no equity in OpenAI – I'm doing this because I love it.”
Sam AltmanI still don’t get how Open Ai went from non profit to for maximum profit. pic.twitter.com/NLtKkRjKLf
— Tesla Owners Silicon Valley (@teslaownersSV) December 17, 2024
“We started OpenAI together, and then at some point, he totally lost faith in OpenAI and decided to go his own way.”
Altman also spoke about OpenAI’s relationship with Microsoft, its largest investor. Microsoft has put more than $13 billion into the company and has an exclusive license to its raw technologies.
How OpenAI Plans to Move From Being a Nonprofit
As the maker of ChatGPT battles Google and Meta for A.I. supremacy, it’s also fighting to end control by a nonprofit board. https://t.co/LTzp37cX9M @Fahrenthold @cademetz @MikeIsaac @nytimes
— Spiros Margaris (@SpirosMargaris) December 17, 2024
“I don’t think we’re disentangling,” Altman said of the relationship with Microsoft. “I will not pretend that there are no misalignments or challenges. We need lots of compute, more than we projected.”
.@Meta Platforms joins forces with @ElonMusk to try to block @OpenAI’s for-profit transition https://t.co/YG4a32iwS4 @SiliconANGLE @Mike_Wheatley “Every company should be free to change its operating form as needed, but the special status of being a…” – @holgermu pic.twitter.com/DdZQ4a9raB
— Constellation Research (@constellationr) December 17, 2024
Altman remains optimistic about the future of artificial intelligence, despite the challenges and competition.
He pushed back on assertions that progress in AI is becoming slower and more expensive, saying, “There is no wall.”
The conversation provided significant insights into OpenAI’s trajectory, relationships, and the broader implications for the AI industry. Elon Musk’s escalating legal feud with Sam Altman could act as a drag on OpenAI’s rapid ascent in the artificial intelligence world. Musk, who now runs a competing AI company called xAI, is trying to convince a federal judge to issue an injunction that would stop OpenAI from converting to a for-profit company.
The lawsuit Musk filed in August accuses OpenAI of prioritizing profits over its initial nonprofit mission of advancing AI to benefit all of humanity. Altman, OpenAI, and its biggest backer Microsoft have rebutted Musk’s request for an emergency intervention, calling his allegations “false” and claiming he has no legal basis for blocking OpenAI’s for-profit conversion. The legal fight is unfolding while OpenAI and Microsoft discuss how to divide up the gains from the AI upstart.
OpenAI recently closed a $6.6 billion funding round, with Microsoft investing $14 billion since 2019. Musk has alleged that Altman deceived him into co-founding and funding OpenAI by promising it would remain a nonprofit. He further claims that Altman took steps to unlawfully enrich himself by partnering OpenAI with companies in which he held financial interests.
OpenAI’s path amid challenges and growth
OpenAI, however, contends that Musk agreed to the for-profit transition before leaving and even demanded majority equity and the CEO position, which the organization rejected. In a recent interview, Altman expressed sadness over the legal dispute with Musk, whom he considered a hero.
He remained optimistic that Musk would not use political influence to harm OpenAI once the new administration takes power. This legal battle underscores the complex interplay between ethics, innovation, and profit in the rapidly evolving AI sector. Last fall, the nonprofit that controls OpenAI aimed to reassert control over the company’s high-profile leader, Sam Altman.
It failed. Ever since then, Mr. Altman has been trying to wrest control of the company away from the nonprofit.
Under the watchful eyes of government regulators, the press, and the public, Mr. Altman and his colleagues are working to sever the nonprofit’s control while ensuring that the existing board is properly compensated for the changes, according to four people familiar with the negotiations who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Mr.
Altman and his colleagues need to answer a critical question: What is a fair price for ceding control over a technology that might change the world? Proper compensation to the nonprofit is still being debated, but it could easily be in the billions of dollars, one person said. The clock is ticking for OpenAI’s board of directors.
It has promised investors that it will restructure the organization within the next two years, according to documents reviewed. “We are and have been for a while looking at some changes,” Mr. Altman said this month during an appearance in New York.
“It is, as you can imagine, complicated.”
Rashan is a seasoned technology journalist and visionary leader serving as the Editor-in-Chief of DevX.com, a leading online publication focused on software development, programming languages, and emerging technologies. With his deep expertise in the tech industry and her passion for empowering developers, Rashan has transformed DevX.com into a vibrant hub of knowledge and innovation. Reach out to Rashan at [email protected]
