Sam Altman and Elon Musk co-founded OpenAI in 2015|World Economic Forum; Wcamp9|CC BY-NC-SA 2.0; CC BY 4.0
OpenAI filed a lawsuit against Elon Musk this week, alleging a pattern of harassment and asking a judge to block any further “unlawful and unfair” actions.
Musk sued the ChatGPT maker in 2024, claiming the company, led by Sam Altman, strayed from its nonprofit mission to develop AI for the benefit of humanity.
Musk and Altman co-founded OpenAI in 2015, but the Tesla CEO left before it rose to prominence and even launched his own AI firm, xAI, in 2023.
OpenAI argues Musk is acting in bad faith to slow them down and take control of its AI innovations for personal gain. It claims he is trying to block its transition to a for-profit model by 2025 end, which is necessary to access the $40 billion fundraising round it finished recently.
The company says Musk has attacked it through legal claims, public criticism, and a $97.4 billion unsolicited takeover bid, which OpenAI rejected.
Musk’s legal team claims the OpenAI board failed to consider the bid properly.
The legal battle is expected to go to a jury trial in spring 2026.