Elon Musk's lawsuits against OpenAI are driven by sour grapes
Reid Hoffman · In conversation with Reid Hoffman & Robert F. Kennedy Jr. · Aug 30, 2024 · at 23:10
Venture capitalist and early OpenAI backer Reid Hoffman comments on Elon Musk's legal action against OpenAI and Sam Altman regarding OpenAI's transition to a capped-profit model.
0:00 / 0:40exact quote · 40.2s
▶ Watch the full episode on YouTube → 720p mp4 · rendered on demand · StarZero watermark
“Frankly, I think probably the most charitable thing to say is sour grapes because, you know, for example, I know Sam offered him as much of the investment round as he wanted. Right? Like, he could have done the whole thing. He could have let it. You know, it was kind of like, hey, look, we still love you. And he was like, no, it's not a company that I control. It's gonna fail. So I'm not interested in investing. And I was like, okay. Right. And so now you're getting these lawsuits that are like, you know like, I was misled. And it was like, you were offered everything at every opportunity other than converting OpenAI into a company that you completely owned. And so You know, I think it's without, without basis, without merit.”
quote is from the automated transcript, cleaned for reading: filler sounds and stutters are removed, nothing is rephrased. names can be misheard (the analysis reads context, assessments check outside sources). how →
More from Reid Hoffman
Synthetic data will make individual media training data irrelevant
“Don't try to hold out for money on the training side of things, because, you know, we're going to create synthetic data, we're going to do all kinds of other things that are going to mean that no one's particular data is really going to matter.”
Hoffman: FTC blocking tech M&A quells venture capital investment
“Her theory is you gotta prevent the aggregation of power, so you gotta fight every acquisition of note. And the problem, of course, is that actually quells venture capital investment.”
Hoffman funded ads highlighting RFK Jr.'s anti-vax stance to hurt Trump
“My thing was actually, in fact, making people aware of RFK's anti-vax, you know, statement, his anti-science stuff, because I thought that would be relevant in the polls in November. That, that was the actual strategy that, that I believe, and I think that wou…”
Reid Hoffman calls proposed unrealized capital gains tax definitely stupid
“Look, I think it's definitely a quelling impact, and it's definitely stupid, and definitely shouldn't happen.”
Reid Hoffman funded E. Jean Carroll's civil lawsuit against Donald Trump
“What I funded was an ability to have, you know, kind of a woman who doesn't have power, who's being threatened by a rich man with a lot of money and power to try to silence her, to have her day in court where 12 everyday Americans, right, can come to a judgmen…”
Hoffman: Musk demanded firing CEO Bill Harris right after X.com merger
“Pre the merger closing you know, Elon is, is saying, oh, I got the CEO of Bill Harris. He's the best ever. That's part of the reason why you should give so much percentage of the company to x.com and the merger, you know, dah, dah, dah, dah, dah, dah. And then…”