--- title: "Elon Musk Is Super Pissed OpenAI Became Successful After He Left" description: "Elon Musk, who was a co-founder of OpenAI, hasn't shied away from expressing his disdain (or horror) over the company's newfound direction and success." date: "2023-03-16" modified: "2023-03-16" authors: - name: "Frank Landymore" job_title: "Contributing Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/flandymore" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/elon-musk-pissed-openai-successful" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" - "Elon Musk" - "Future Society" - "OpenAI" - "The Industrialists" tags: - "elon musk" - "OpenAI" - "the digest" --- # Elon Musk Is Super Pissed OpenAI Became Successful After He Left ![Elon Musk, who was a co-founder of OpenAI, hasn't shied away from expressing his disdain (or horror) over the company's newfound direction and success.]() *\Image: Getty / Futurism\* ## Moneymaking While OpenAI is soaking up the limelight after releasing ChatGPT and its [next-generation GPT-4]() language model, this week**,** Elon Musk, who was a co-founder of the company, hasn't shied away from [expressing his disdain]() (or horror) over its newfound direction and success. And he's not done with his groaning and moaning about the company, replying to a Twitter user who mocked its pivot to [becoming a for-profit entity]() back in 2019, months after [Musk left]() over disagreements with the company's direction. "I'm still confused as to how a non-profit to which I donated \[roughly\] $100 million somehow became a $30 billion market cap for-profit," he [tweeted](), doing his best to not sound like a sore loser. "If this is legal, why doesn't everyone do it?" Indeed, if we blew $44 billion on an overpriced website with a [tanking revenue]() and fleeing advertisers, we would also be baffled at the concept of making money. ## ClosedAI To be fair, Musk does kind of have a point, though coming from him, his comments amount to the equivalent of an unscrupulous businessman calling a company out for having no scruples. As we've covered here before, [OpenAI is a pretty sleazy company]() to be one of the foremost purveyors of AI. Originally founded as an ostensibly altruistic nonprofit concerned about combating evil AI, it quickly [dropped the humanitarian act]() and created a for-profit arm, securing a [billion-dollar investment from Microsoft]() in 2019. Along the way, Musk [jumped ship](), citing disagreement with its new direction. Now, as a private, venture capital cash cow, its valuation has ballooned to [nearly $30 billion](), and its projects are [no longer open-source]() as its name once implied. ## Bad Faith Ultimately, though, it's worth being skeptical of Musk's motives behind repeatedly decrying OpenAI. Is he earnestly concerned about the company's cynical transformation into a money-making machine and getting buddy-buddy with monoliths like Microsoft? It's certainly possible. But lately, Musk has betrayed what seems like an ulterior, or at the very least, a more sinister grievance: OpenAI supposedly pushing a "woke" intelligence. In December, Musk responded to a [tweet]() from OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, warning of the "danger" of "training AI to be woke." Just a few months later, and it was reported that Musk is trying to [build his own "anti-woke" AI]() to rival ChatGPT. Whatever his true intentions, Musk is continuing to lay the groundwork for his counter-OpenAI narrative off the back of anti-woke rhetoric, maybe in the hopes of fueling the success of his own AI product in the future. **More on AI:** *[Uh Oh, OpenAI's GPT-4 Just Fooled a Human Into Solving a CAPTCHA]()* ## Author At Futurism, my work has often centered on bringing a sense of clarity and insight to complex topics ranging from the regulation of emerging technologies to the esoteric ideologies of Silicon Valley executives, while striving not to lose the poetic sense of awe inspired by often-obscure fields like astrophysics and quantum computing. I broke the story of CNET using AI to produce articles that turned out to be riddled with factual errors and plagiarism — a dam-breaking inflection point, as I've reported, that's inspired copycats and endless discourse while beguiling stakeholders ranging from tech giants to purveyors of spam around the web. My work at Futurism has been cited by publications including CBS News, the Los Angeles Times, Vice, Gizmodo, Engadget, the Verge, and Vanity Fair. I grew up in locales ranging from India to China, and now live in the exotic suburbs of Virginia. In my free time, I'm an avid reader of weird sci-fi literature, an aficionado of East Asian cinema, and, regrettably, a relapsed gamer. Allegedly, I’m working on a debut novel, currently untitled. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()