US antitrust regulators have reportedly supported some of this. Elon MuskIn his legal battle to stop the argument of Open AI By restructuring as a non-profit company. According to a Bloomberg report, in court filings, the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) argued that overlapping board memberships could adversely affect competition, even if the director resigns. Even after This is consistent with Musk’s lawsuit, which alleges antitrust violations by OpenAI. Microsoft Because of the co-founding of LinkedIn Reid Hoffman Serving concurrently on the boards of both companies from 2017 to 2023, and Diana Templeton briefly as a Microsoft executive and OpenAI board member.
A company that stops potentially illegal behavior still bears a “heavy burden” to prove that the behavior won’t happen again, the agencies reportedly said. While the agencies themselves have not taken a position on the legality of OpenAI’s reorganization, their filing supports Musk’s argument about the potential harm of overlapping directorships.
The filing comes in response to Musk’s recent request that a federal court stop the company from pursuing what he described as an “illegal” transformation into a for-profit company. The hearing on this application will be held on January 14.
Elon Musk vs. Sam Altman
The legal action is part of Musk’s ongoing feud with the CEO of OpenAI. Sam Altmanseveral years after they co-founded OpenAI as a non-profit focused on advancing AI for social benefit.
The FTC is investigating OpenAI on several fronts, including a soon-to-be-released study on AI investments by Microsoft and other tech companies, possible misleading consumer practices by OpenAI, and board overlap involving Hoffman. are Hoffman has publicly criticized FTC Chair Lena Khan, calling for her removal.
Musk initially sued OpenAI in state court, then dropped it and refiled the case in federal court. It claims that OpenAI violated its original non-profit mission by accepting billions in funding from Microsoft starting in 2019, and argues that by allowing OpenAI to dominate the AI market Immediate judicial intervention is necessary to prevent
OpenAI, which declined to comment on the latest filing, has previously defended the legitimacy of Hoffman and Templeton’s board positions and dismissed Musk’s lawsuit as baseless, and claims that he initially favored a more traditional corporate structure for the company.