Elon Musk says creating OpenAI may have accidentally accelerated the AI race
Follow UsMusk believes the rise of OpenAI and Anthropic sped up AI development beyond his original intentions.
He claimed Anthropic's founders left OpenAI because they lost trust in CEO Sam Altman.
Musk called for AI companies to review each other's models and urged governments to step in only when major safety risks are ignored.
Elon Musk has stated that one of his earliest attempts to prevent any single company from dominating AI space may have unintentionally accelerated the industry’s rapid growth. In an interview with The Economist, the xAI founder talked about the creation of OpenAI, saying it was originally established to act as a counterbalance to Google’s dominance in AI research. However, he believes that the outcome has been very different from what he had envisioned.
SurveyAs per Musk, the launch of OpenAI, followed by the emergence of Anthropic, ended up speeding up AI development rather than slowing the concentration of power. He remarked that despite his intentions, the industry has continued to move forward towards faster AI progress.
Musk revisits OpenAI and Anthropic split
During the interview, Musk also talked about the origins of Anthropic, suggesting that the company’s founder left OpenAI because they had lost the confidence in CEO Sam Altman. He added that Anthropic likely would not have existed today if its leadership had remained at OpenAI.
Despite his criticism, Musk described Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei as someone who is guided by principles and is concerned about the long-term impact of artificial intelligence.
Long-running dispute with OpenAI
The Tesla CEO has repeatedly criticised OpenAI’s transition from a nonprofit research organisation to a commercial AI company. Earlier this year, a federal court dismissed several of Musk’s claims in his lawsuit against OpenAI, Altman, Microsoft and other parties. Musk has indicated that he intends to appeal the decision.
Calls for industry oversight
He argued that leading AI companies should review each other’s most advanced models before public release. According to him, competitors have an incentive to identify potential safety risks, helping ensure that dangerous capabilities are flagged early.
He added that government intervention should only become necessary if a company ignores AI safety concerns highlighted by others in the industry.
