Elon Musk took credit for the existence of OpenAI and said he came up with the startup's name. Musk was an OpenAI cofounder and invested $50 million into the company. He left the startup in 2018. He criticized OpenAI's business model and its relationship with Microsoft, one of its current investors. Musk expressed concerns about OpenAI while simultaneously taking credit for the existence of the AI startup behind ChatGPT. "I am the reason OpenAI exists," Musk told CNBC's David Faber in a Tuesday interview. Musk told CNBC he invested around $50 million at the time and was "instrumental" in recruiting key scientists and engineers. He also the brain behind its name, he said.
Musk expressed concerns about OpenAI while simultaneously taking credit for the existence of the AI startup behind ChatGPT. "I am the reason OpenAI exists," Musk told CNBC's David Faber in a Tuesday interview. Musk told CNBC he invested around $50 million at the time and was "instrumental" in recruiting key scientists and engineers. He also the brain behind its name, he said.
"It does seem weird that something can be a non-profit, open source and somehow transform itself into a for-profit, closed source," he told CNBC's Faber. "This would be like, let's say you found an organization to save the Amazon rainforest, and instead they become a lumber company, and chop down the forest, and sold it for money." Microsoft invested $1 billion into OpenAI in 2019. It followed up with a "multibillion-dollar" investment in January 2023.
The latest investment amount wasn't publicly disclosed, but Semafor reported it was about $10 billion. Musk told CNBC Microsoft could "cut off OpenAI" at any point and has a lot of control over the startup. "I also think it's important to understand when push comes to shove — let's say they create some digital super-intelligence, almost god-like intelligence, who's in control? What is exactly the relationship between OpenAI and Microsoft?" Musk has also publicly voiced warnings about AI, saying the technology is a "danger to the public." In March, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX signed an open letter alongside Apple cofounder Steve Wozniak, AI experts, and scientists calling for a six-month pause on advanced AI development.
