Read the casual emails between Elon Musk and Sam Altman that kicked off OpenAI
- Elon Musk amended his lawsuit against OpenAI and Sam Altman, adding Microsoft as a defendant.
- Musk included emails between himself and Altman from 2015 in which they discussed starting OpenAI.
Elon Musk unveiled several emails between himself and fellow billionaire Sam Altman this week as evidence in the Tesla CEO's lawsuit against Altman and OpenAI, shining a light on the casual beginnings of the now-$157 billion company.
On Thursday, Musk amended his suit against the AI startup and its CEO, adding Microsoft as an additional defendant and accusing the two companies of forming a "de facto merger" and engaging in anticompetitive practices in the AI sector.
A spokesperson for OpenAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
Musk helped found OpenAI in 2015 but has frequently criticized the company and its leaders in the years since. The SpaceX CEO left the AI startup in 2018.
In his amended complaint filed in federal court this week, Musk outlined the beginnings of OpenAI, including the initial emails Altman sent him proposing the idea in 2015.
Lawyers for Musk characterized Altman's initial outreach to Musk as him "testing the waters" and trying to convince the Tesla CEO to bring his funding and connections on board.
In early March 2015, the two tech leaders drafted an open letter to the US government highlighting the need for regulation in the safe creation of AI, the complaint says.
Altman sensed an "opportunity" following the letter, Musk's lawyers allege, leading him to email Musk the following:
Musk responded:
A month later, Altman followed up on Musk's "noncommital" response and offered Musk a detailed proposal for a new AI lab, according to the court documents.
Musk responded:
And thus, OpenAI was born.
Musk stepped down from OpenAI's board of directors in 2018. Years later, Semafor reported that Musk wanted to run the company on his own to beat Google. When his request was rejected, Musk pulled his funding and left, the outlet reported.
He first sued OpenAI and its cofounders in March, alleging the company had shirked its nonprofit mission by partnering with Microsoft, which has invested more than $13 billion in the company.
OpenAI at the time called the suit "incoherent" and "contradictory." Musk dropped the lawsuit but filed a new complaint against the company in August, alleging executives at the startup "deceived" him into joining the startup by playing on his concerns about the existential risks of AI.