OpenAI (co-founder)
Co-founder & early funder (2015–2018)
The AI research lab Musk co-founded in 2015 to keep advanced AI safe and open — before departing over direction and conflicts.
openai.comDec 2015
Co-founded
Co-founder & funder
Role
2018
Departed board
Musk was a co-founder and early funder of OpenAI, announced in December 2015 as a non-profit dedicated to developing artificial intelligence "to benefit humanity as a whole." He had warned for years that unchecked AI was "potentially more dangerous than nukes," and helped launch OpenAI specifically to counterbalance closed, corporate AI.
Musk left OpenAI's board in February 2018, citing a potential conflict with Tesla's own AI work. He has since been a vocal critic of OpenAI's shift toward a capped-profit structure and its Microsoft partnership, and founded xAI in 2023 to pursue his own vision of safe, truth-seeking AI.
Milestones
OpenAI announced as a non-profit; Musk among co-founders/funders.
Musk leaves the board, citing a Tesla AI conflict.