Elon Musk claimed he gave $100 million to OpenAI. Filings present it is not true.

Elon Musk has made it fairly clear over the previous few months: He is no fan of OpenAI, the creator of the favored ChatGPT AI chatbot.

Musk’s critiques of one of many largest corporations within the rising AI house is particularly poignant being that Musk himself was a founder within the firm. Musk has stated(opens in a brand new tab) on quite a few events(opens in a brand new tab) that he put $100 million into OpenAI in its earliest days, again when he agreed with its non-profit, open-source ethos. 

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OpenAI’s new less-transparent, extra for-profit course has been a significant situation for Musk, who has since reduce ties with the corporate.These are reputable critiques, made much more substantial on account of the truth that a former co-founder and investor within the firm is making them.

However a new report(opens in a brand new tab) from TechCrunch calls into query simply how a lot Musk really gave to OpenAI. And it seems Musk has revised the quantity he claims to have supplied the AI firm consequently.

In keeping with this report(opens in a brand new tab) by Mark Harris of TechCrunch, tax filings present that OpenAI’s non-profit obtained not more than $133.2 million since its inception via 2021. Primarily based on all non-Musk funding into OpenAI, Musk couldn’t have given greater than round $57 million to the group.

Nonetheless, as for publicly recorded donations tied to Musk, that quantity is even decrease. In 2016, via his 501(c)3 non-profit, the Musk Basis, a $10 million donation was made to a non-profit related to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, which in flip donated the $10 million to OpenAI.

In keeping with TechCrunch, that’s the solely “publicly disclosed money contribution” that backs up Musk’s monetary ties to OpenAI. Nonetheless, TechCrunch believes that Musk supplied a further $5 million in money in 2017, as half of a bigger donation to OpenAI from that very same Altman-connected nonprofit. 

The report additionally discovered non-cash contributions within the type of almost $250k value of Tesla autos, gifted to OpenAI in 2017. In 2018, Musk supplied a further $14k in car upgrades. 

As TechCrunch factors out(opens in a brand new tab), there are methods for wealthy donors to offer cash anonymously, so it is attainable Musk supplied greater than $15 million money and a few Tesla autos. Nonetheless, based mostly on the quantity given by different donors, Musk’s earlier $100 million determine cannot be true.

And Musk appears to have come to that conclusion as properly. After TechCrunch reached out for remark relating to their findings, Musk revised his claims. In a CNBC interview(opens in a brand new tab) earlier this week, Musk was requested about how a lot he donated to OpenAI. He did not drop the $100 million quantity as he beforehand did.

“I’m unsure the precise quantity nevertheless it’s some quantity on the order of $50 million,” he stated.

Within the massive image, tens of hundreds of thousands of {dollars} could seem inconsequential once we’re speaking about billionaires and multi-billion greenback valued corporations. Musk has made many legitimate critiques about OpenAI and this report on how a lot he really gave the group does not actually have an effect on his factors. However, if one goes to place themselves on the market as a uniquely certified critic of OpenAI, it appears crucial that they get these fundamental information and figures proper.