OpenAI Shares New Details About History with Elon Musk

1. KSKara Swisher0:00

   OpenAI says it intends to move to dismiss all of Elon's Musk's recent legal claims. Uh, the company shared more about their mission and their relationship with Elon in a blog post on Tuesday, which included a number of old emails. I love that they used them. I used some in my book of his so you could understand what happened. According to OpenAI, they decided, uh, with Elon in late 2017 that the next step for the company was to create a for-profit entity, and he... it seems like he did agree. Elon wanted ma- but he wanted majority equity, initial board control, and to be CEO. What a fucking narcissist this guy is. He also withheld... He did give money to them, but he wanted everything for that. He also withheld fund- funding, uh, money during these discussions. Of course, they turned to, guess what, Reid Hoffman. There's other rich people, Elon. There's other rich people who think AI is cool. Uh, OpenAI is coming out swinging with this post. Uh, The Wall Street Journal has a piece on how Elon's Sam bromance turned toxic, uh, which, uh, we've talked about. I've known about this for a long time. Um, I don't kn- I don't know if he's... He's gonna move forward with the suit, but these letters are kind of, um, interesting. Um, also OpenAI is also on the PR move. OpenAI, Google, Meta, and 300 others signed an open letter this week pledging to build AI for a better future. This letter mentions a collective responsibility to maximize AI's benefit and limit the risks. Sam Altman posted about it on X, saying he was excited for the spirit of this letter. And, you know, it's a, it's a PR thing, of course. Um, so first, uh, uh, we'll get to that, but what do you think about, uh, their, their thing? Did you read their blog post?

2. SGScott Galloway1:26

   I love it. I think that they're... I mean, for all the, for all the criticism, warranted criticism, that Jack Dorsey got, I actually thought his board, led by Bret Taylor, literally just dissected, picked apart, and m- just, just absolutely, um, drawed and quartered, uh, all of Elon's arguments in thoughtful, measured ways-

3. KSKara Swisher1:46

   Mm-hmm.

4. SGScott Galloway1:46

   ... when he was trying to back out of an agreement that he, that he-

5. KSKara Swisher1:49

   Yeah. Mm-hmm.

6. SGScott Galloway1:49

   ... contractually signed, uh, left, right, when he realized he'd overpaid for the thing in a fit of mania.

7. KSKara Swisher1:54

   Mm-hmm.

8. SGScott Galloway1:54

   So I think it's, uh, uh, I, I loved it. I mean, it's great reading. It's just like, okay, let's be clear. You gave us some money. You then wanted to be the CEO. You wanted to be the majority shareholder.

9. KSKara Swisher2:06

   Mm-hmm.

10. SGScott Galloway2:07

    And it's clear you weren't doing this for humanity, you were doing it for control and wealth.

11. KSKara Swisher2:11

    Mm-hmm. That's correct.

12. SGScott Galloway2:12

    And we said no-

13. KSKara Swisher2:13

    Yeah.

14. SGScott Galloway2:13

    ... and found better options. Oh, and by the way, it worked out really well for us and our shareholders, just FYI.

15. KSKara Swisher2:19

    Mm-hmm.

16. SGScott Galloway2:19

    It looks as if this company, without the benefit of your genius, has done really well. (laughs)

17. KSKara Swisher2:26

    Right.

18. SGScott Galloway2:26

    And, uh, I mean, it's just, uh, i- i- it's so obvious what's going on here, and I find it em- I f- I'm shocked he's not more embarrassed, but we live in an economy now-

19. KSKara Swisher2:36

    He's-

20. SGScott Galloway2:36

    ... and in a society where it's like, just get attention. Oh wait-

21. KSKara Swisher2:40

    Mm-hmm.

22. SGScott Galloway2:40

    ... should I weigh in on the Disney proxy battle? No, I shouldn't.

23. KSKara Swisher2:43

    Right. Immi- immigrants.

24. SGScott Galloway2:43

    I have no domain expertise here.

25. KSKara Swisher2:45

    This immigration stuff is so heinous this week, but go ahead.

26. SGScott Galloway2:48

    And it doesn't even matter, uh, and it's unfortunate 'cause it's our fault. It doesn't even matter how heinous or stupid or irrational my take is-

27. KSKara Swisher2:56

    Mm-hmm.

28. SGScott Galloway2:56

    ... as long as I'm in the news.

29. KSKara Swisher2:57

    Yeah.

30. SGScott Galloway2:57

    As long as I'm in the news, and that's where we are. We're in an attention economy. It doesn't, doesn't matter why you're in the news, just as long as you're in the news. And this guy is literally massively addicted to attention, and-

Episode duration: 11:22