Elon Musk sues ChatGPT-maker OpenAI | BBC News

Summary

Elon Musk is suing OpenAI, a company he helped found, alleging Microsoft has turned it into a subsidiary by investing billions. Musk left OpenAI in 2018 and warns unfettered AI could threaten humanity. There are questions around tech giants controlling powerful AI, given their poor regulation of social media. Governments are trying to govern AI but the pace of change may outstrip them. There are fears over weaponized AI like deepfakes influencing elections, and uncertainty whether governments have the tools to address this.

Takeaways

• 😲 Elon Musk is suing OpenAI for breach of contract, accusing them of prioritizing profits over responsible AI development after Microsoft's investment
• 😠 Musk says Microsoft has effectively turned OpenAI into a subsidiary, but OpenAI and Microsoft deny this
• 😒 US regulators are investigating if Microsoft's OpenAI investment raises competition concerns
• 😬 Musk warns unfettered AI could pose an existential threat to humanity
• 😥 Microsoft's acquisitions raise worries they are suffocating AI innovation space
• 😣 Big tech's poor regulation of social media raises concerns about their ability to responsibly govern AI
• 😰 AI technology is advancing faster than government regulation and oversight
• 😓 A few big tech firms may soon have a monopoly on cutting edge AI due to compute and energy requirements
• 😡 Deepfakes and AI could be weaponized to spread disinformation and interfere in elections
• 😟 British government's ability to protect upcoming elections from AI threats raises concerns

Q & A

What is Elon Musk accusing OpenAI of?

Elon Musk is accusing OpenAI of putting profit before its founding principle of developing AI responsibly. He claims OpenAI has effectively become a subsidiary of Microsoft after Microsoft invested billions into the company.

What are the antitrust concerns regarding Microsoft's acquisition of AI companies?

Regulators are investigating if Microsoft's investments and acquisitions in the AI space, like their recent purchase of an AI company in France, are anti-competitive and could stifle innovation in the industry.

What are some of the issues caused by big tech companies self-regulating social media platforms?

Self-regulation has meant companies have not taken responsibility for issues like the well-being of users or the impact on political systems and democracy. This has left citizens and systems worse off.

How could AI governance by governments help address issues seen in social media regulation?

Governments are trying to regulate AI development with more urgency given the lessons learned from the hands-off approach taken for social media platforms. More assertive governance could help address emerging issues.

What are the concerns about the future consolidation of AI development?

The compute power and energy required to develop advanced AI may mean that only a few large, systemically important companies and governments are capable of working at the cutting edge. This could require more assertive governance.

What new AI disinformation threats exist for upcoming elections?

Advances in AI mean bots and fake personas can be created more efficiently to spread disinformation. There are also concerns about the rise of hard-to-detect deepfakes during election campaigns.

How prepared are governments for new AI-enabled disinformation campaigns?

There are concerns governments do not yet have the tools to properly address emerging disinformation threats enabled by advances in AI. The pace of technological change also outpaces regulatory and policy responses.

What previous government initiatives have aimed to regulate AI development?

The UK government previously hosted a global AI regulation summit, signalling an intent to lead in this policy area. However, concerns remain about whether policy is keeping pace with technological change.

What historical examples show the impact of uncontrolled new technologies?

The lack of Internet regulation allowed the emergence of issues like weaponized disinformation and threats to democracy. There are fears unchecked AI development could similarly have broad societal impacts.

What role do tech companies have in addressing AI-enabled disinformation?

Tech companies will need to respond quickly to new types of information manipulation as governments form their policy responses. Public-private cooperation will likely be necessary.

Outlines

00:00

😕 Elon Musk sues OpenAI over profit concerns

Elon Musk is suing OpenAI for breaching their contract by prioritizing profits over AI safety principles. Musk claims Microsoft has effectively turned OpenAI into a subsidiary by investing billions. OpenAI and Microsoft deny this but regulators are investigating. Musk warns unchecked AI could threaten humanity.

05:02

😟 Concerns over Microsoft dominating and restricting AI innovation

There are worries Microsoft is stifling AI innovation by acquiring emerging companies, already facing investigation over competition laws. Key questions need addressing around ensuring AI benefits rather than harms humanity. Lessons should be learned from lack of social media regulation.

Keywords

💡Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence (AI) refers to computer systems and machines that can perform tasks that typically require human intelligence. The video discusses concerns over the unchecked development of powerful AI, which could potentially cause harm. For example, Elon Musk warns that the unfettered use of 'generative artificial intelligence' poses an existential threat.

💡Governance

Governance refers to the rules, policies, and processes for directing and controlling AI. The video discusses the need for better governance and regulation of AI development, so it benefits humanity rather than causing harm. For example, governments have been slow to regulate social media companies, leading to negative impacts.

💡Deepfakes

Deepfakes refer to highly convincing media (images, audio, video) that are artificially generated using AI to impersonate real people and say or do things they didn't actually say or do. The video warns that deepfakes could be used to manipulate elections by discrediting candidates.

💡Disinformation

Disinformation refers to deliberately false or misleading information spread to deceive people. The video discusses concerns over AI being used to efficiently spread disinformation at scale to weaponize the information space and interfere in democratic processes like elections.

💡Social media companies

Social media companies like Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok host user-generated content on their platforms. The video argues these companies have done a poor job self-regulating to protect user wellbeing and democratic systems, reinforcing the need to govern AI development.

💡Business models

Business models refer to how companies generate value and revenue. The video suggests leading-edge AI may be dominated by big tech companies and governments because it requires massive computing resources, so their incentives and business models will shape governance.

💡Tech bro

Tech bro is a critical term for wealthy technology company leaders. It suggests a detached, profit-driven mentality that fails to consider societal impacts. The video references UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's tech bro background as a concern regarding AI regulation.

💡Crisis

Crisis refers to a destabilizing event that generates urgency to act. The video suggests governance often lags technology advancements until a crisis forces responsive policies. For example, the cybersecurity industry emerged after major hacks occurred.

💡Regulation

Regulation refers to rules and directives imposed by government authorities to control the development of technology like AI. The video discusses different regulatory approaches but overall emphasizes the need for regulation to prevent harm.

💡Existential threat

An existential threat represents danger so severe it could destroy or critically impair human existence. Elon Musk argues unfettered AI progress poses an existential threat to the future of humanity itself.

Highlights

Elon Musk is suing OpenAI for breach of contract

Musk says Microsoft has turned OpenAI into a subsidiary by plowing billions into it

Regulators are investigating the parameters of Microsoft's OpenAI investment

Annabelle raises concerns about large organizations creating revolutionary AI technology but not allowing others to access it

Questions need to be asked about whether AI will benefit or harm humanity

Governments have been very slow to regulate new technologies like the internet

Social media companies have done a horrible job self-regulating and democracy is worse off

AI technology is advancing much faster than governments can regulate

In 3-5 years, only a handful of big tech companies may have the resources to be at the cutting edge of AI

Assertive governance will be required if a few big techs control advanced AI

Senator Warner has evidence Russia can now use AI to create social media bots and fake personas much more efficiently

Deep fakes like the fake Biden robo call before New Hampshire primary will increase

The cyber security industry emerged after cyber attacks began; the same will likely happen with AI

The UK government aims to lead on AI regulation but may lack the tools to address issues like weaponized disinformation

The pace of AI change worries me and the government may not be able to address threats before the next election

Transcripts

Elon Musk is suing open AI for breach of

contract the billionaire entrepreneur

says the US firm is now putting profit

before its founding principle of

developing AI responsibly Mr musk who

helped set up the firm says Microsoft

has plowed billions into open Ai and has

in effect turned it into a subsidiary

the two companies deny the claim but us

Regulators are investigating the

parameters of Microsoft's investment Mr

mus left open AI in 2018 to set up his

own rival he has warned before that the

UN feted use of generative artificial

intelligence could pose an existential

threat um Microsoft just bought one of

the uh emerging AI companies in France

this week they're already under

investigation Annabelle uh over uh

competition laws do you think um

Microsoft is starting to suffocate the

space that there is for

Innovation certainly I think it's

problematic when it comes to artifici

artificial intelligence it's an a field

where we need as many contenders able to

climb the ladder and fewer large

organizations which are creating this

revolutionary technology but pulling the

ladder up behind them you know I think

there are serious questions to be asked

about Elon musk's

motivations about um the world's richest

man complaining about profit making over

benefit to humanity which some may view

as a little selfs serving that said I

think that there are very serious

questions that we need to ask at the

government level across the world about

whether AI is going to benefit Humanity

or whether it is going to harm Mankind

and if we have fears over the latter

which certainly some politicians have

voiced then how are they going to

regulate it because in the UK at least

they were very slow to regulate the

internet and when they did

eventually the on sa bill it was a very

far wide reaching piece of legis ation

which encompassed arguably far more she

to without addressing the fundamental

concerns that we have over safety online

yeah I was I was about to ask you Ian

whether actually maybe it's a better

thing that the big companies are in

charge of this and controlling the roll

out of this extremely powerful

technology but Annabelle makes a very

good point that the big companies that

have had charge of social media meta um

uh you know all Twitter you know um Tik

Tok these sort of big companies they've

not done a very good job of that so so

maybe maybe we'd be better going the

other way they've done a horrible job of

it uh social media has basically

regulated itself which meant that it's

had no interest in taking responsibility

for the well-being of either the people

that are on their platforms uh or the

political systems that they operate in

and democracy and our citizens are worse

off as a consequence now when it comes

to AI uh certainly the governments are

trying to get a move on governance with

much greater urgency in part because of

the lessons that they are have learned

uh from the hands off on social media

and companies are trying with various uh

degrees of success uh to cooperate with

those governments but it's not at all

clear uh that it's going to succeed the

technology is moving a lot faster than

the governments are uh and that means

the business models are going to matter

a lot more for the governance um I I do

worry uh that when we think about the

future of AI in 3 or 5 years time it's

quite possible that with the amount of

Comm compute required and the amount of

energy required to run that compute that

it's only going to be perhaps a very

small number of systemically important

companies maybe even working with

governments that will be capable of

operating at The Cutting Edge that that

will require a much more assertive

governance if that's where the

technology goes just in terms maybe get

a quick thought from both of you because

we a bit pressed for time but just one

um social media post that I saw from

Miles Taylor one of our panelists this

week he's been talking to Senator Mark

Warner Ian and and he said that

um they have a dossier in their hands

that the Russians are now able to create

these Bots and personas on social media

using AI in a much more efficient much

more dangerous way than they were able

to in 2016 2020 the concern was that

Senator Warner thinks that just not had

a conversation really within Congress

about how they going to stop that or how

they going to tackle it that's right uh

it's going to require a crisis first we

already saw you know one deep fake with

the robo call pretending to be Biden in

the runup to the New Hampshire primary

there's going to be a lot more of this

and the companies are going to have to

respond very very quickly with

governments as things start to break

that we had that with cyber and entire

cyber security industry came up after

things started to break that's going to

have to happen on AI on about well what

about this side because um I know that

there is a a sort of intelligence-led

approach to it MI5 I think are involved

in it do are you convinced by what the

government is saying to to protect the

upcoming British

election I certainly have concerns now

the country at the moment is being run

by Tech bro rishy sunak who has wanted

to try and lead the world on Innova AI

regulation he had a hosted a global

Summit last Autumn to that effect but

there are very serious concerns what

really worries me is the pace of change

it was 10 years ago that we were worried

about the internet and its ability to be

weaponized in order to spread

disinformation to discredit certain

candidates in an election now we have

the rise of AI and as Ian says deep

fakes which are going to convince

members of the public at at a speed that

may not be corrected before they go to

the poll so certainly that there's a

very real concern there and I'm not sure

that the government has the tools yet to

address it