Elon Musk drops lawsuit against ChatGPT-maker OpenAI without explanation

FILE – Tesla CEO Elon Musk leaves the Tesla Gigafactory for electric cars after a visit in Gruenheide near Berlin, Germany, March 13, 2024. If Tesla shareholders vote against restoring Elon Musk’s $44.9 billion pay package that was tossed out by a Delaware judge, the CEO could deliver on threats to take artificial intelligence research to another firm, or even leave Tesla. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi, File)

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Elon Musk has dropped his lawsuit against OpenAI just ahead of a scheduled Wednesday hearing on the case.

Musk in February sued the San Francisco artificial intelligence company and its CEO Sam Altman over what he said was a betrayal of the ChatGPT maker’s founding aims of benefiting humanity rather than pursuing profits.

In the lawsuit filed in February at San Francisco Superior Court, billionaire Musk said that when he bankrolled OpenAI’s creation, he secured an agreement with Altman and Greg Brockman, the president, to keep the AI company as a nonprofit that would develop technology for the benefit of the public and keep its code open instead of walling it off for private gain.

However, by embracing a close relationship with Microsoft, OpenAI and its top executives set that pact “aflame” and are “perverting” the company’s mission, Musk alleged in the lawsuit.

Most legal experts said Musk’s claims — centered around allegations of breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty and unfair business practices — were unlikely to succeed in court. Musk’s lawyer filed a notice Tuesday seeking to dismiss the entire case. No explanation was given for why it was being dropped.

Musk’s lawyers and OpenAI didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.