In the latest development in an ongoing struggle over OpenAI's future direction--and potentially the future of artificial intelligence itself--dozens of prominent figures are urging the Attorneys General of California and Delaware to block OpenAI's controversial plan to convert from its unique nonprofit-controlled structure to a for-profit company. In a letter made public April 23, signatories including "AI Godfather" Geoffrey Hinton, Harvard legal professor Lawrence Lessig, and several former OpenAI researchers argue the move represents a fundamental betrayal of OpenAI's founding mission. "The proposed restructuring would eliminate essential safeguards, effectively handing control of, and profits from, what could be the most powerful technology ever created to a for-profit entity with legal duties to prioritize shareholder returns," the letter's authors write. It lands as OpenAI faces immense pressure from the other side: failing to implement the restructure by the end of the year could cost the company 20 billion and hamstring future fundraising. OpenAI was founded in 2015 as a non-profit, with its stated mission being to ensure that artificial general intelligence (AGI) "benefits all of humanity" rather than advancing "the private gain of any person."

Elon Musk has dropped his lawsuit accusing OpenAI and its co-founders Sam Altman and Greg Brockman of reneging on the startup's pledge to develop artificial intelligence for the benefit of humanity. Lawyers in the United States representing Musk, on Tuesday asked a California judge to dismiss the suit, court filings showed. No reason was provided for the application to dismiss the suit. Musk in February filed a suit claiming that ChatGPT had set "aflame" its founding agreement to put the good of humanity ahead of profit-seeking when it signed an investment deal with Microsoft. "To this day, OpenAI Inc's website continues to profess that its charter is to ensure that AGI'benefits all of humanity'," Musk claimed in the suit.

Mozilla's new startup will build "trustworthy" AI that benefits humanity. If that sounds familiar, it was OpenAI's founding mission. "This new wave of AI has generated excitement, but also significant apprehension. We aren't just wondering'What's possible?' and'How can people benefit?' We're also wondering'What could go wrong?' and'How can we address it?' Two decades of social media, smartphones and their consequences have made us leery. Mozilla has been asking these questions about AI for a while now -- sketching out a vision for trustworthy AI, mobilizing our community to document what's broken and investing in startups that are trying to create more responsible AI."