Elon Musk Once Again Slams Microsoft-OpenAI Partnership: 'They Own The Code, The Weights, Everything'

While Microsoft Corporation’s MSFT CEO Satya Nadella previously refuted Elon Musk’s accusations that his company controls OpenAI, the tech billionaire has once again slammed the relationship between these two AI frontrunners.

What Happened: An X (formerly Twitter) user, who is also a designer at Dogecoin DOGE/USD and goes by the username DogeDesigner on the platform, posted an image of Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates with Sam Altman in a setting that appeared like the former was pulling the strings of OpenAI CEO, saying, “It feels like OpenAI ChatGPT is somehow controlled by Microsoft.”

In response, Musk, once again, targeted the Nadella-led company, saying, “They own the code, the weights, everything! And GPT runs in a Microsoft data center.”

The tech mogul then repeated his previous allegations and said that Microsoft can “cut off OpenAI whenever they want,” leading many users in the comment section to share that concern while some said that Musk might be “exaggerating.”

In May earlier this year, when Nadella was asked about Musk’s allegations about Microsoft having control over OpenAI, he said, “Look, while I have a lot of respect for Elon and all that he does, I’d just say that’s factually not correct.”

Since OpenAI launched its AI-powered chatbot and started an AI race that other tech companies are still trying to catch up with, Musk, who co-founded ChatGPT-parent in 2015 and left in 2018, has been targeting it for multiple reasons.

One of those reasons is ChatGPT-parent’s relationship with Microsoft, which earlier this year announced plans for a multiyear, multibillion-dollar investment in OpenAI, making it the third phase of its partnership with the Altman-led company.

Why It’s Important: During the weekend, Musk’s AI enterprise, xAI, released its first-ever model called “Grok.” While Grok is currently available for only limited users, the tech billionaire has announced that once it exits the early beta phase, the platform will become accessible to all X Premium Plus subscribers.

However, while on the one hand, many people are excited about Musk’s new AI platform, considering it has been touted as witty and up-to-date as compared to existing AI systems like ChatGPT, Google Bard, and Microsoft’s Bing AI, it also pointed a lot of fingers at the Tesla CEO who previously signed an “open letter” demanding a pause on AI developments “more powerful” than GPT-4.

Musk has explained it, emphasizing that he knew signing the letter was a “futile” exercise, but he wanted to be “on record as recommending a pause.”

Check out more of Benzinga’s Consumer Tech coverage by following this link.

MSFTMicrosoft Corp

$438.280.03%