Sam Altman Responds to Elon Musk's Criticism in AI Debate Over Bias - OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has responded to recent comments by entrepreneur Elon Musk, who has frequently criticized ChatGPT for having a left-wing bias. Altman shared a post on the social media platform X, showcasing a comparison between AI responses from ChatGPT and Grok to a query regarding a hypothetical choice between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump in a U.S. Presidential election. Without directly naming Musk, Altman questioned which AI was promoting a “left-wing propaganda machine.”
Altman wrote, “Which one is supposed to be the left-wing propaganda machine again?" He went on to emphasize that OpenAI is committed to making ChatGPT the least biased AI, highlighting its performance in evaluations. "We are proud of how consistently ChatGPT scores as the least biased AI in evaluations. That is an important default, and users should have plenty of options to customize it," Altman said.
Elon Musk has often accused ChatGPT of being “too woke.” In a past post, he expressed concerns about what he called the “woke mind virus,” suggesting it had deeply influenced ChatGPT’s responses.
Musk’s History with OpenAI Elon Musk’s connection to OpenAI goes back to 2015 when he co-founded the AI startup with Sam Altman and Greg Brockman. However, he left the company in 2018 over disagreements regarding its direction. Earlier this year, Musk filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, accusing the organization and its leadership of prioritizing commercial interests over the public good, violating the company’s original mission.
In recent developments, Musk filed another complaint alleging that OpenAI, along with Microsoft, is attempting to suppress competition by discouraging investors from funding rival AI companies like xAI. He accused OpenAI of leveraging Microsoft's infrastructure to gain an unfair advantage in the AI market. "Microsoft and OpenAI, apparently unsatisfied with their dominance in generative AI, are now actively trying to eliminate competitors like xAI by securing promises from investors not to fund them," Musk’s legal team wrote in a filing at a federal court in Oakland, California.
The complaint further criticized OpenAI’s transformation from a nonprofit to a highly profitable entity, stating, "Never before has a corporation gone from tax-exempt charity to a $157 billion for-profit, market-paralyzing gorgon — and in just eight years."
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