Elon Emails

Altman proposes a 'Manhattan Project for AI'

From:
Sam Altman
Date:
May 25, 2015 (Sent 9:10 PM)
To:
Elon Musk
Subject:
question
Been thinking a lot about whether it's possible to stop humanity from developing AI. I think the answer is almost definitely not. If it's going to happen anyway, it seems like it would be good for someone other than Google to do it first. Any thoughts on whether it would be good for YC to start a Manhattan Project for AI? My sense is we could get many of the top ~50 to work on it, and we could structure it so that the tech belongs to the world via some sort of nonprofit but the people working on it get startup-like compensation if it works. Obviously we'd comply with/aggressively support all regulation. Sam

About this email

Altman tells Musk that stopping AI development is almost certainly impossible and floats YC starting a 'Manhattan Project for AI' whose technology would belong to the world via a nonprofit.

Notes

First exhibited with Musk's 2024 complaint against OpenAI.

Where it came from

Court record; attribution confirmed.

OpenAI, executive & internal. Tags: founding, nonprofit, google, y-combinator, musk-v-openai