• ELON MUSK

    Elon Musk shot down OpenAI's proposed ICO in 2018: court filing

    theblock.co 15/11/2024 - 17:38 PM

    Elon Musk Claims to Have Shot Down OpenAI's ICO

    Tesla CEO and billionaire Elon Musk claims to have halted OpenAI's initial coin offering (ICO) in 2018, according to an amended court filing submitted on Nov. 14.

    Background

    Musk and his legal team state that Sam Altman and Greg Brockman, two of OpenAI's founders, aimed to launch a token in early 2018 to make the company profitable. Musk argued, "It would simply result in a massive loss of credibility for OpenAI and everyone associated with the ICO," as noted in the filing.

    OpenAI initially began as a non-profit focused on developing safe artificial general intelligence (AGI). Musk has expressed longstanding concerns about the risks advanced AI systems pose to humanity. He was a co-chair of OpenAI's board and invested $44 million into the startup, along with other contributions.

    OpenAI announced on March 5 that it needed to transition to a for-profit model to secure the necessary funds for its mission. At one point, Musk suggested a merger between OpenAI and Tesla to address the AI organization's funding challenges. However, he left OpenAI in February 2018 and went on to establish his own AI company, xAI.

    Legal Disputes

    OpenAI expressed sadness regarding the situation, stating, "We're sad that it's come to this with someone whom we’ve deeply admired — someone who inspired us to aim higher, then told us we would fail, started a competitor, and then sued us when we started making meaningful progress towards OpenAI’s mission without him."

    In August, Musk launched a lawsuit against OpenAI and its executives, Altman and Brockman, alleging fraud, violations of federal RICO statutes, unfair competition, and other grievances. The amended suit includes Microsoft as a defendant; Microsoft had invested $1 billion in OpenAI in 2019.

    Other Developments

    Separately, the Altman-supported Worldcoin project released its own crypto token, WLD, in July 2023, which traded at $2.21 as of 11:36 p.m. ET (16:36 UTC) on Nov. 15.

    Correction (Nov. 15, 2024 — 16:50): OpenAI is not affiliated with the WLD token.




    Comments (0)

      Greed and Fear Index

      Note: The data is for reference only.

      index illustration

      Extreme Greed

      84