Musk dropped the lawsuit but filed another one against Altman and OpenAI, this time elevating his accusations to claim OpenAI worked with Microsoft, an investor, to create a monopoly. The billionaire also alleged the company violated its founding claim as a nonprofit by pursuing profit. OpenAI has denied the allegations.

Two of the most powerful forces in the AI industry are set to collide this year: Elon Musk and OpenAI's Sam Altman. Here's what you need to know.

AlexNet, created by Alex Krizhevsky, Sutskever and Geoffrey Hinton, used a deep convolutional neural network (CNN)—a powerful new type of computer program—to recognize images far more accurately than ever, kick-starting major progress in AI.

Elon Musk has been testing the limits of his political influence ever since Trump was elected, but he may stop short of using the full force of the White House.