Elon Musk is suing OpenAI and its CEO, Sam Altman, for betraying the company's founding commitment to build a nonprofit artificial intelligence company with open-source technology that would work towards the benefit of humanity.
Musk, who co-founded the company with Altman and Greg Brockman but has since parted ways, claims that the company has become a profit-maximizing "closed-source de facto subsidiary" of Microsoft.
The lawsuit was filed on Thursday evening in San Francisco. In it, Musk claims that the board members "lack substantial AI expertise and, on information and belief, are ill-equipped by design to make an independent determination of whether and when OpenAI has attained AGI — and hence when it has developed an algorithm that is outside the scope of Microsoft's license."
The board that Tesla's CEO refers to was elected after a leadership crisis the company went through last year. In November, Altman was ousted from his CEO post as the board claimed he was not "consistently candid in his communications." However, Altman quickly found his way back with the help of 700 of the 770 OpenAI employees, who all threatened to resign if the CEO was not reinstated. As a result, the board was fired, and an internal investigation was set up.
The Wall Street Journal also reported yesterday that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is investigating the events of November 2023. The regulator is going through Sam Altman's internal communications within OpenAI to find out whether investors were misled.
However, as Sam Altman and OpenAI go through the classic motions of Silicon Valley's power moves, impressive launches, and legal turmoils, Worldcoin's price and reputation follow.
The global identity and financial blockchain network co-founded by the tech entrepreneur saw an incredible price rise earlier this month following the launch of AI video generator Sora. Today, its price dropped after news of the SEC's investigation and Musk's legal action broke.
Altman's influence on Worldcoin affects more than just WLD price. OpenAI's CEO was essential in finding funding for the futuristic project when it started in 2019. His influential position is also something the project can leverage to find partnerships with other tech firms. Yet, the tech entrepreneur's connection with Worldcoin might ultimately hinder the project's success.
Launched in July 2023, the "digital passport" crypto project co-founded by Altman now has almost 4 million users, and WorldApp has over 1.7 million monthly active users.
Recently, the app was integrated with major tech project websites Reddit, Discord, Shopify, Minecraft, and Telegram. The launch of WorldID 2.0 in December addressed some of the concerns raised about the project by AI skeptics, including a rule change to allow a WorldID to be reset if it gets lost.
On Feb. 29, the global identity network took another critical step towards onboarding more users with the acquisition by Tools For Humanity of Otrr Finance - a Web3 project that developed the Otrr self-custody Solana wallet.
Despite launching WorldID worldwide, the native WLD token is only available in countries where regulation allows, which is not the case in the U.S., with rules on crypto projects there "being less clear."
This acquisition opens the Worldcoin ecosystem up to 330 million people, as Otrr Finance has made groundbreaking advances (for a crypto project) in the North American market by beginning to allow users to seamlessly integrate their wallets with U.S. bank accounts.
Yet, given the SEC's hyper-cautionary stance towards crypto projects, Altman's ongoing legal processes might prevent WLD from being traded in the U.S.
The perception that one of its co-founders is a solely profit and power-seeking individual certainly doesn't help all the ongoing legal investigations that Worldcoin is subject to globally. The project is currently facing investigations over its economic incentives and biometric data process by regulators in India, Brazil, France, Kenya, Argentina, and Germany.
The launch of ChatGTP made Sam Altman one of the most relevant people in tech. However, until his power is consolidated, his passion project hangs in the balance.
