Elon Musk Threatens To Sue Microsoft: Alleges Illegal Use Of Twitter Data To Train ChatGPT?

Twitter CEO Elon Musk has threatened to take legal action against Microsoft. Musk claims Microsoft illegally fed Twitter data to the ChatGPT language model.

Microsoft may have welcomed a legal battle after refusing to support Twitter. After Microsoft reportedly refused to pay Twitter API's fees, Elon Musk threatened to sue the Windows OS maker.

Microsoft Openly Refuses To Support Twitter

Microsoft has openly clarified that it won't pay Twitter to access and use the social media platform's API (Application Programming Interface). In a message that appears on the top of a support page for Microsoft's advertising platform, the company has categorically stated that it will "no longer support Twitter" starting on April 25.

What this means is that the companies that rely on Microsoft's products and services will no longer be able to use Microsoft's platform to manage their tweets or engagement. Simply put, Microsoft has threatened to cut backend ties with Twitter.

Introducing a new form of Free (v2) access for write-only use cases and those testing the Twitter API with 1,500 Tweets/month at the app level, media upload endpoints, and Login with Twitter.

Get started: https://t.co/CqCRD3vbE5

— Twitter Dev (@TwitterDev) March 29, 2023

Incidentally, it was Twitter, or more specifically speaking Elon Musk, who tried to earn from Twitter's backend support system and information pathways.

Musk has been trying to ramp up Twitter's revenue. After firing thousands of employees, and jacking up the price of the Twitter Blue subscription, Musk decided to start charging companies and businesses that rely on Twitter APIs to interface with the social media platform.

Elon Musk has essentially put Twitter's APIs behind a paywall. The majority of businesses, including Microsoft, would have to pay as much as $42,000 per month to gain access to Twitter's APIs. This facility and access were free when Twitter was a publicly traded company.

Musk Threatens To Sue Microsoft But Doesn't Appear To Have Proper Justification

Musk has threatened to sue Microsoft. He responded to a Tweet from T(w)itter Daily News which mentioned Microsoft has dropped Twitter from its advertising platform as the company refuses to pay Twitter API fees.

They trained illegally using Twitter data. Lawsuit time.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 19, 2023

Musk responded to the Tweet by claiming Microsoft illegally used Twitter data and it's now "Lawsuit time". Needless to say, Musk's Tweet doesn't mention specifics.

It is possible the Twitter CEO meant Microsoft used Twitter data to train the GPT language model which is powering the ChatGPT Generative AI platform. If true, it is not Microsoft but OpenAI whom Musk should have threatened.

OpenAI has developed, built, and is currently improving the third iteration of the ChatGPT Generative AI platform. The organization did recently receive a significant investment from Microsoft.

Musk has issued similar threats in the past but he has seldom acted on them. Hence, it's unclear whether Musk will actually sue Microsoft at this point. Incidentally, Google has been similarly accused recently. However, nothing has developed yet.