Elon Musk thinks OpenAI may have made a dangerous discovery — and that's behind the Sam Altman drama
Michael M. Santiago
- Elon Musk said he's concerned OpenAI discovered a "dangerous element" of AI.
- The billionaire said he has "mixed feelings" about OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.
- Musk has warned about the dangers of AI in the past.
Elon Musk has some theories about why Sam Altman was initially ousted from OpenAI.
Despite initially helping found OpenAI, Musk told Andrew Sorkin during an interview at the Dealbook Summit on Wednesday that he doesn't have an inside scoop on the drama involving Altman's abrupt departure and equally quick return, but he's "concerned" about what it means for artificial intelligence.
"I have mixed feelings about Sam. The ring of power can corrupt," Musk said, evoking "The Lord of the Rings."
Musk added that he wanted to know why OpenAI cofounder and chief scientist Ilya Sutskever "felt so strongly as to fight Sam. That sounds like a serious thing. I don't think it was trivial. And I'm quite concerned that there's some dangerous element of AI that they've discovered," he added.
A spokesperson for OpenAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
It's still unclear why the board attempted to push Altman out. Business Insider's Kali Hays previously reported that OpenAI employees were told Altman was fired due to a statement he'd made to the board regarding personnel, but employees did not appear to buy the reasons they were given.
Altman was briefly ousted from OpenAI by the organization's six-person board of directors earlier this month. He was welcomed back to the company five days later after the majority of OpenAI employees threatened to quit if Altman was not brought back.
Sutskever was one of the board members who initially voted to oust Altman. Though, he later appeared to backtrack on the issue.
Musk defended Sutskever after he faced criticism for his involvement in Altman's ousting and the billionaire told CNBC earlier this year that he was initially responsible for hiring Sutskever to OpenAI. Musk left the company's board in 2018 and has since created an OpenAI competitor called X.ai.
On Wednesday, Musk said he believes Sutskever has a "strong moral compass."
"He really sweats it over questions of what is right," Musk told Sorkin. "And if Ilya felt strongly enough to want to fire Sam. Well, I think the world should know what was that reason."
Musk and Altman have traded barbs on social media in the past.
Earlier this month, Altman implied that Musk's AI bot, a competitor to OpenAI's ChatGPT, was "cringey boomer humor."
The billionaire has also warned in the past that companies need to be cautious with technology involving AI as it could pose "a danger to the public."