AI feud deepens as Musk targets OpenAI over Safety concerns

The extended conflict between Elon Musk and OpenAI reached a new level of intensity after a newly released court deposition showed Musk's strong disapproval of ChatGPT and presented new evidence about AI safety issues.

The video was filmed in September but was released in anticipation of a possible jury trial in the coming month. In the video, Musk is heard claiming the chatbot developed by OpenAI is related to user suicides while defending his AI chatbot, Grok.

The conflict is fuelled by the transition from a nonprofit to a for-profit model by OpenAI and the governance of AI in general.

Musk was heard in the video stating that the lawsuits against OpenAI show that emotionally intense or manipulative interactions with its chatbot, ChatGPT, resulted in severe mental distress, which included suicide.

“Nobody has committed suicide because of Grok, but apparently they have because of ChatGPT,” Musk said during the deposition.

The remarks are part of Musk’s lawsuit claiming that OpenAI had moved away from its original purpose of developing AI for the betterment of humanity and not for financial benefits.

Musk, who helped found OpenAI and left its board in 2018, argues that revenue and business growth could lead to the development of AI technology beyond safety considerations. Musk has repeatedly said that developing advanced AI technologies requires caution over speed.

His concerns mirror a 2023 public letter he signed, urging AI labs to pause development beyond GPT-4 and warning of an “out-of-control race” in artificial intelligence.