When Elon Musk created his artificial intelligence startup xAI in 2023, he incorporated it as a Nevada public benefit corporation, making a formal commitment to positively impact society and to post regular disclosures about progress on its non-financial goals.
The launch of xAI followed Musk’s split with OpenAI, which he helped start eight years earlier as a nonprofit before the AI lab went on to take billions of dollars from Microsoft en route to becoming a massive business.
Musk’s spat with OpenAI took a legal turn early last year, when he sued the AI startup and CEO Sam Altman for breach of contract, alleging they abandoned the company’s founding mission to develop AI “for the benefit of humanity broadly.” As part of his lawsuit, Musk sought to block OpenAI from converting into a for-profit entity.
Meanwhile, xAI changed its own structure, terminating its PBC status, according to records on file with Nevada’s secretary of state.
In related news: Musk is making good on his promise to sue Apple and OpenAI over Grok and X’s ranking on the iOS App Store. 🍿