OpenAI filed a countersuit against Elon Musk on Wednesday, accusing him of a pattern of harassment and seeking a federal judge’s intervention to prevent him from taking any further “unlawful and unfair action” against the organization. This legal battle stems from a dispute over the future structure of OpenAI, the company that helped lead the AI revolution.
Musk co-founded OpenAI in 2015 alongside CEO Sam Altman, but he left the company before it rose to prominence. Since then, Musk, who launched his own AI company, xAI, in 2023, has tried to block OpenAI’s transition to a for-profit entity. This move is crucial for OpenAI as it aims to complete a $40 billion fundraising round, with a deadline set for the end of this year.
In the filing, OpenAI accused Musk of using multiple tactics to harm the company. These include public attacks, spreading malicious campaigns to Musk’s 200 million followers on social media, demanding corporate records, filing harassment claims, and making a false bid for OpenAI’s assets. The company has requested that a judge stop Musk from further damaging the organization and hold him accountable for the harm caused.
The two parties are scheduled to begin a jury trial in the spring of next year.
Musk’s legal team pointed to a $97.4 billion unsolicited takeover bid made earlier this year by a consortium led by Musk, which OpenAI rejected. Musk’s lawyer, Marc Toberoff, argued that if OpenAI’s board had properly considered the bid, they would have seen its seriousness. He also claimed that OpenAI’s reluctance to accept the bid interfered with their business plans.
In response, OpenAI argued that Musk’s ongoing actions are simply bad-faith efforts to slow the company’s progress and seize control of AI innovations for his own benefit. Musk’s xAI, which last month acquired the social media platform X in a deal that valued it at $33 billion, also stands to gain from AI advancements, making the rivalry more intense.
Last year, Musk filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and Altman, accusing the company of abandoning its original mission to develop AI for the benefit of humanity, rather than corporate profits. OpenAI and Altman have rejected these allegations, with Altman asserting that Musk’s actions are aimed at hindering a competitor.
At the core of the legal conflict is OpenAI’s transition to a for-profit model, which the company argues is necessary to secure more capital and remain competitive in the high-stakes AI race.
