Elon Musk tried to hire OpenAI founders to start AI unit inside Tesla (arstechnica.com)

In a recent high-stakes trial, it was revealed that Elon Musk attempted to recruit the founding team of OpenAI, including CEO Sam Altman, in 2018 to establish a new AI lab within Tesla. This move came as Musk expressed dissatisfaction with OpenAI’s direction and its capacity to achieve artificial general intelligence (AGI). His proposal included integrating Altman into a leadership role, potentially making OpenAI a subsidiary of Tesla. The trial is centered around Musk's claims that Altman misappropriated a charity by turning OpenAI into a for-profit entity, against Musk's interests. These developments highlight a significant tension within the AI community regarding the commercialization of AI technology. Musk's frustrations with OpenAI’s nonprofit model reflect broader concerns about governance and direction in the rapidly evolving field of AI. The evidence presented, including email exchanges and testimonies from key figures like Shivon Zilis, underscores Musk's ambitions to create a competitive AI division at Tesla, which he believed could rival major players like Google/DeepMind. This case could have substantial implications for the future of AI development and the collaboration dynamics between major stakeholders in the industry.