Musk pitched naming OpenAI 'Freemind' in jab at Google, emails to Altman show (www.businessinsider.com)

In a revealing exchange from 2015, Elon Musk suggested the name "Freemind" for OpenAI during a conversation with co-founder Sam Altman, positioning it as a philosophical counter to Google's AI lab, DeepMind. Musk believed the name reflected OpenAI's mission of creating freely available digital intelligence, opposing DeepMind's more monopolistic approach. Altman, however, found "Freemind" a bit too similar to DeepMind and proposed alternatives like "Axon," while also warming to Musk's idea as it conveyed the right spirit. This correspondence comes to light as Musk testifies in a high-stakes federal trial regarding his lawsuit against OpenAI over its transition to a for-profit model. Musk emphasized the necessity of having a counterbalance to Google's influence on AI, highlighting concerns over AI safety that motivated him to co-found OpenAI. The discussions around naming underscore significant philosophical differences in AI development philosophies, reflecting ongoing debates in the AI/ML community about controlling access to AI technologies and the ethical implications of their deployment.