Sam Altman "took the scam to a whole new level": Musk comments on Apple's lawsuit against OpenAI
In May, Musk lost his lawsuit against Altman and OpenAI
Elon Musk Responds to Apple's Lawsuit Against OpenAI Over Intellectual Property Theft / Photo: Frederic Legrand - COMEO / Shutterstock.com
Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, posted several jabs at OpenAI CEO Sam Altman on X, accusing him of a “scam.” Musk was commenting on Apple’s lawsuit against the AI startup over intellectual property theft.
In one of his posts, Musk wrote that Altman had “taken the scam to a whole new level.” In response, Altman criticized Musk for “selling investors on the public market the idea of space-based data centers coming soon,” referring to SpaceX’s plans to deploy computing centers in space as an alternative to ground-based infrastructure.
Musk responded by saying that the company will begin launching such data centers as early as next year, and added:
“Maybe you can come take a look—if your parole officer lets you. First you stole an open-source AI nonprofit, and then all of Apple’s smartphone technology! Wow. What’s your next move? It’ll be hard to top that.”
Context
Musk, who co-founded OpenAI with Altman and other entrepreneurs, lost a lawsuit in May against the AI startup, its president Greg Brockman, and Altman. In his lawsuit, Musk alleged that Altman, together with Microsoft, fraudulently persuaded him to donate money to OpenAI by assuring him that it would retain its status as a nonprofit organization, according to Yahoo Finance.
Apple announced its lawsuit against OpenAI in a court filing submitted on Friday, July 10. The company alleges that “OpenAI and its affiliates systematically acted in concert, engaging in institutional-level misconduct.” Apple alleges that OpenAI’s head of hardware and former Apple vice president of product design, Tang Tang, as well as former Apple electrical engineer Chang Liu, who now works at OpenAI, conspired to steal information that could help OpenAI develop its own AI devices. According to the lawsuit, before leaving Apple to join OpenAI, Tang sent information about the company’s suppliers to his personal email. In addition, he allegedly asked potential OpenAI candidates who were still working at Apple at the time to bring “actual components” to interviews for demonstration purposes. According to Apple, more than 400 former iPhone manufacturer employees now work at OpenAI.
"We are not interested in other companies' trade secrets. We remain focused on creating innovative technologies that empower people around the world," an OpenAI spokesperson told Yahoo Finance.
This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor
