Microsoft controls ChatGPT maker OpenAI: Elon Musk

Tesla and Twitter owner Elon Musk is unhappy with the latest advances in generative AI and has criticized ChatGPT maker OpenAI for turning into a for-profit, non-profit company. He also suggests that Microsoft, which has invested billions of dollars in OpenAI, has more control than the OpenAI leadership. However, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella notes that Musk's claims are "factually incorrect."

During an interview with CNBC, Musk stated that the creator of ChatGPT, OpenAI, existed thanks to him. The AI research company was founded in 2015 as a nonprofit, but two executives later formed a "limited profit" entity called OpenAI LP. Musk claims that he invested approximately $50 million in the company during its formative year and played a key role in recruiting. He added that he suggested the name "OpenAI". "What exactly is the relationship between OpenAI and Microsoft? I worry that Microsoft made it more in control. As a part of the Microsoft investment, they have rights to all of the software, all of the model weights and everything," Musk said.

After Musk's interview, Nadella told CNBC that these claims are "factually incorrect." The Microsoft CEO further adds that he has "a lot of respect" for Musk, but the Tesla owner is wrong. Adds Nadella: "OpenAI is very grounded in its mission of being controlled by a non-profit board. We have a non-controlling interest in it. We have a great commercial partnership in it." Nadella referred to OpenAI LM and its association with a "limited profit" company focused on a "mission of fundamentally pursuing this very powerful technology." He points out that Microsoft is the only for-profit company that feels comfortable working in a non-profit company on this scale.

Interestingly, Musk's concerns may not be entirely far-fetched, as Microsoft has already enhanced several of its platforms, including Bing, Ege, and Microsoft Office, with the underlying ChatGPT technology. As part of the agreement, Microsoft can take advantage of ChaGPT's base GPT language model technology and even repackage it for select customers. A report recently claimed that Microsoft has been working on a version of ChatGPT for enterprise customers with a sizeable subscription. This version will focus on privacy as the servers will be different.

Musk has raised concerns many times about ChatGPT and technologies similar to ChatGPT. The Tesla CEO, along with Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, was a signatory to a March open letter calling for a pause on advanced AI development.