OpenAI released a series of emails indicating Elon Musk wanted to merge Tesla with the startup.
Chelsea Jia Feng/BI
OpenAI posted emails from Elon Musk that reveal he wanted the company to merge with Tesla.Musk agreed that Tesla was the only option and other large companies would be incompatible partners.The emails indicate that Musk supported a for-profit pivot until OpenAI partnered with Microsoft.
OpenAI has clapped back at Elon Musk’s lawsuit with emails suggesting the Tesla head not only supported the company’s pivot to a for-profit model — but that he wanted his own company to be its “cash cow.”
In the AI company’s bombshell blog posted Tuesday night, OpenAI claimed Musk, who helped found OpenAI, “wanted the company to merge with Tesla or wanted full control.”
The blog post was a response to Musk’s suit, which argues that OpenAI has jeopardized its nonprofit mission by partnering with Microsoft. Open AI claimed in its post that Musk only sued the company when it “started making meaningful progress” toward its mission without him.
In an attempt to set the record straight, OpenAI posted a series of emails from Musk that appear to show Musk supported OpenAI’s pivot toward creating a for-profit entity. In a 2016 email included in the post, OpenAI chief scientist Ilya Sutskever explained why the company would have to be “less open” going forward, to which Musk replied “yup.”
Business Insider was unable to independently verify the authenticity of the emails, which were partially redacted.
The emails appear to contradict comments the the Tesla CEO has made since. Musk said in February 2023 that OpenAI became a “maximum profit company effectively controlled by Microsoft,” which was not what he “intended at all.”
But the emails indicate that Musk didn’t mind the company shifting to a for-profit model — and encouraged it as long as he was in charge.
According to OpenAI’s post, Musk wanted majority equity, board control, and to be CEO. The company said it was against its mission for an individual to have full control over the company and therefore couldn’t reach an agreement with Musk.
Then, in an email sent on January 31, 2018, Musk endorsed making Tesla a “cash cow” for OpenAI, and agreed that other large companies like Apple or Amazon would fail due to an “incompatible company DNA.”
“Tesla is the only path that could even hope to hold a candle to Google,” Musk said in an email response to the proposal posted in the blog. “Even then, the probability of being a counterweight to Google is small. It just isn’t zero.”
In late February of 2018, Musk chose to leave the company, according to OpenAI. He also shared his plans to build a general intelligence competitor within Tesla, which became xAI Corp.
According to an email from Musk in December of 2018 included in the blog, Musk said OpenAI had a 0% chance of being relevant without a major change in execution and resources. He said the tech startup needed “billions per year immediately” to stand a chance. The Tesla CEO wrote at the bottom of the email that he hoped he was wrong.
Musk has been speaking out against OpenAI for a while, but recently ramped up his criticism of its mission.
In OpenAI’s announcement, the company stated it planned to dismiss all of Musk’s claims and was “sad that it’s come to this with someone whom we’ve deeply admired.”
Musk, his attorney, and a Tesla spokesperson did not respond to Business Insider’s request for comment.
