Musk bashes OpenAI in deposition, saying ‘no person dedicated suicide due to Grok’

In a newly launched deposition filed in Elon Musk’s case in opposition to OpenAI, the tech govt attacked OpenAI’s security file, claiming that his firm, xAI, higher prioritizes security. He went as far as to say that “No person has dedicated suicide due to Grok, however apparently they’ve due to ChatGPT.”

The remark got here up in a line of questioning a couple of public letter Musk signed in March 2023. In it, he known as on AI labs to pause growth of AI programs extra highly effective than GPT-4, OpenAI’s flagship mannequin on the time, for at the least six months. The letter, which was signed by over 1,100 folks, together with many AI consultants, said there was not sufficient planning and administration happening at AI labs, as they had been locked in an “out-of-control race to develop and deploy ever extra highly effective digital minds that nobody — not even their creators — can perceive, predict, or reliably management.”

These fears have since gained credibility. OpenAI now faces a sequence of lawsuits alleging that ChatGPT’s manipulative dialog techniques have led a number of folks to expertise adverse psychological well being results, with some dying by suicide. Musk’s remark means that these incidents could possibly be used as fodder in his case in opposition to OpenAI.

The transcript of Musk’s video testimony, which happened again in September, was filed publicly this week, forward of the anticipated jury trial subsequent month.

The lawsuit in opposition to OpenAI facilities on the corporate’s shift from a nonprofit AI analysis lab to a for-profit firm, which Musk claims violated its founding agreements. As a part of his arguments, Musk claims that AI security could possibly be compromised by OpenAI’s business relationships, as such relationships would place velocity, scale, and income above security considerations.

Nonetheless, since that recording, xAI has confronted security considerations of its personal. Final month, Musk’s social community X was flooded with nonconsensual nude photographs generated by xAI’s Grok, a few of which had been mentioned to be of minors. This led the California Legal professional Common’s workplace to open an investigation into the matter. The EU can also be working its personal investigation, and different governments have taken motion, too, with some imposing blocks and bans.

Within the newly filed deposition, Musk claimed he had signed the AI security letter as a result of “it appeared like a good suggestion,” not as a result of he had simply integrated an AI firm seeking to compete with OpenAI.

“I signed it, as many individuals did, to induce warning with AI growth,” Musk mentioned. “I simply wished … AI security to be prioritized.”

Musk additionally responded to different questions within the deposition, together with these about synthetic normal intelligence, or AGI — the idea of AI that may match or surpass human reasoning throughout a broad vary of duties — saying “it has a danger.” He additionally confirmed that he “was mistaken” about his supposed $100 million donation to OpenAI; the second amended grievance within the case places the precise determine nearer to $44.8 million.

He additionally recalled why OpenAI was based, which, from his perspective, was as a result of he was “more and more involved concerning the hazard of Google being a monopoly in AI,” including that his conversations with Google co-founder Larry Web page had been “alarming, in that he didn’t appear to be taking AI security critically.” OpenAI was fashioned as a counterweight to that risk, Musk claimed.