Elon Musk, who helped launch OpenAI in 2015, left the company in 2018 after tangling with its other cofounders. Now, the startup is engulfed in a power struggle that could threaten its existence, and he seems to be enjoying the spectacle.
“Looks like Instability.AI is still available,” Musk posted to X on Monday morning, referring to a possible new domain name for the company.
Well after midnight on Monday, another user joked that they wanted the “entertainment to stop” so they could finally get some sleep. “Same,” Musk replied, along with a crying-while-laughing emoji—an icon he used at least seven other times in response to posts about the company.
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It has been a three-day nightmare for employees at the artificial intelligence startup. On Friday, Altman was abruptly fired by the board over claims that he “was not consistently candid in his communications.” The vagueness of that statement sparked fervent speculation about the true reason for his ouster; it later emerged that members of the board—including chief scientist Ilya Sutskever—believed that Altman was releasing new technology at an irresponsibly fast clip.
Brockman resigned in protest of Altman’s firing on Friday. Many of OpenAI’s employees, and some of its investors, also appeared outraged over the decision.
Over the weekend, Altman and Brockman negotiated with the OpenAI board over the possibility of returning to the business, but the board again surprised staffers by instead hiring a new chief executive, Emmett Shear.
Microsoft then announced that it would hire Altman and Brockman and other defectors from OpenAI. And in a shock twist, Sutskever said he regretted his “participation in the board's actions” and joined hundreds of other employees demanding that Altman and Brockman be allowed to return.
Musk posted several joking tweets about Altman going to Microsoft, at one point writing, “Revenge of Clippy”—a reference to Microsoft Word’s paperclip mascot.
In more serious posts to X, he also expressed discomfort with the situation. “Microsoft achieved de facto control of OpenAI some time ago. It is only becoming obvious now,” he posted on Monday.
The billionaire has for years indicated that he believes artificial intelligence could pose grave risks to humanity, particularly in the hands of a profit-seeking entity.
After Altman was fired, Musk posted that he was “very worried,” saying that Sutskever would not have taken “such drastic action unless he felt it was absolutely necessary.”
The stakes, he noted, were immense. “OpenAI is not publicly traded and all the money in the world won’t matter if AI goes wrong.”
