Zuckerberg and Musk Join Forces... "Stop OpenAI Commercialization"

Pointing Out Bad Precedents of Monetizing Through Nonprofit Grants

Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta Platforms, has lent support to Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, who is trying to prevent OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT, from converting into a for-profit corporation.

According to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on the 15th (local time), Zuckerberg recently sent a letter to the California Attorney General asking to block OpenAI's transition to a for-profit corporation, stating that "OpenAI, which raised billions of dollars by leveraging its nonprofit status, is trying to change its status to pursue private interests."

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Zuckerberg emphasized, "If OpenAI converts to a for-profit corporation, it would set a dangerous precedent allowing startups to enjoy the benefits of being nonprofit until they are ready to generate profits," adding, "This would have a tremendous negative impact on Silicon Valley."

Previously, Musk, a co-founder of OpenAI, filed a lawsuit to halt the for-profit conversion, claiming that CEO Sam Altman broke his promise to operate OpenAI as a nonprofit and violated contracts with investors by pursuing profits. Last year in June, the two CEOs, Musk and Zuckerberg, who had been rivals?engaging in heated exchanges on social media and nearly coming to physical confrontation?have now formed a joint front against OpenAI.

Zuckerberg's recent actions are also interpreted as partly reflecting concerns that if OpenAI, the frontrunner in the fierce arms race among big tech companies over artificial intelligence (AI) supremacy, succeeds in becoming a for-profit entity, it would become a formidable competitor.

Earlier, Bloomberg reported last month that OpenAI was pushing for conversion to a for-profit corporation and was in initial discussions with California authorities. OpenAI was founded in 2015 as a nonprofit research institute by CEO Sam Altman, Musk, Ilya Sutskever, Greg Brockman, and others. However, it faced limitations in distributing profits despite attracting large-scale investments, leading to the establishment of a for-profit subsidiary, OpenAI Global, in 2019 to secure substantial funding from Microsoft (MS) and others. Nevertheless, to maintain its original 'nonprofit purpose,' the nonprofit board was given control and supervisory authority over the for-profit corporation.

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After parting ways with Altman, Musk founded the AI startup xAI in July last year and launched the AI chatbot 'Grok,' challenging ChatGPT. Last month, he filed a lawsuit claiming that OpenAI and its investor Microsoft (MS) are using their monopolistic position in the AI field to hinder competition, and also submitted a court injunction request to stop the for-profit conversion. In response, on the 13th, OpenAI rebutted with a post titled "Musk Wanted OpenAI to Pursue Profit," stating, "Musk proposed the for-profit conversion of OpenAI in 2017 and actually created the for-profit corporation."

Meanwhile, Fox News reported that CEO Sam Altman decided to donate $1 million to the inauguration of then President-elect Donald Trump. Given Musk's emergence as a close ally of Trump and his opposition to Altman, this is interpreted as an effort to establish connections in advance. Previously, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and Zuckerberg also reportedly pledged $1 million each to coincide with Trump's inauguration.