Why OpenAI Is at War With an Obscure Idea Man
Guy Ravine’s Open AI (with a space) owns a trademark and website that OpenAI (no space) wants. What can their lawsuits tell us about the future of AI—and who wins in Silicon Valley?
It sounded like the setup to a joke, and for a while I thought it was: A company called OpenAI sues a company called Open AI. … The case, formally named OpenAI Inc. v. Open Artificial Intelligence Inc., showed up on the docket for the US District Court in Northern California, to zero fanfare, in August of last year. Companies with near-identical names entangled in a lawsuit usually means trademark infringement—more the makings of a one-liner than a riveting story. Still, it did involve the OpenAI, the generative AI kingpin and maker of ChatGPT, backed by Microsoft Corp. to the tune of (at the time) $13 billion.