OpenAI escalated its legal battle with Elon Musk by countersuing the Tesla and xAI CEO, claiming in a lawsuit he “has tried every tool available to harm” the company.
The filing on Wednesday in U.S. District Court in California comes as the ChatGPT maker is pushing back on a lawsuit from Musk seeking to prevent OpenAI from moving to a for-profit structure. A judge recently said that lawsuit will head to a jury trial next spring, according to Reuters.
“Elon’s nonstop actions against us are just bad-faith tactics to slow down OpenAI and seize control of the leading AI innovations for his personal benefit. Today, we counter-sued to stop him,” OpenAI announced on X, a platform Musk also owns.
The lawsuit asked a judge to prevent Musk from “further unlawful and unfair action” and to hold him “responsible for the damage he has already caused.”
OPENAI CLOSES $40 BILLION IN FUNDING; NOW WORTH MORE THAN MCDONALD’S, CHEVRON
The countersuit began by saying that Musk worked with OpenAI’s founders to help launch the organization as a nonprofit, but in 2017 and 2018, they “refused to bow to Musk’s demands for control of the enterprise or, alternatively, its absorption into Musk’s electric car company, Tesla.”
“So Musk quit, declaring that OpenAI would fail without him and that he would focus on AI development at Tesla,” it continued. “Years later, in 2022, OpenAI launched ChatGPT, an AI chatbot that attracted attention and users on an unprecedented scale. ChatGPT drew a new spotlight onto OpenAI. Musk had nothing to do with it.”
“Musk could not tolerate seeing such success for an enterprise he had abandoned and declared doomed. He made it his project to take down OpenAI, and to build a direct competitor that would seize the technological lead — not for humanity but for Elon Musk,” the lawsuit added.
AI WILL HELP LOWER PRICES, BUT COULD BE USED BY AUTHORITARIAN GOVERNMENTS, OPENAI CEO SAM ALTMAN SAYS
In December 2024, Musk asked a court to stop OpenAI from transitioning into a for-profit entity, Reuters reported. He also submitted an unsolicited bid of $97.4 billion to take over OpenAI earlier this year, which was rejected.
“The ensuing campaign has been relentless. Through press attacks, malicious campaigns broadcast to Musk’s more than 200 million followers on the social media platform he controls, a pretextual demand for corporate records, harassing legal claims, and a sham bid for OpenAI’s assets, Musk has tried every tool available to harm OpenAI,” the company wrote in its countersuit.
“OpenAI is resilient, and the employees, investors, and partners at the core of its mission recognize that Musk’s claims are as meritless as they are self-serving. But Musk’s actions have taken a toll. Should his campaign persist, greater harm is threatened,” the lawsuit also said.
“Investors, partners, and employees saw what happened to Twitter when Musk took it over in 2022: the company’s value plummeted, business partners were left hanging, most employees were sent packing, and the business was ultimately absorbed into Musk’s AI company. Musk’s continued attacks on OpenAI, culminating most recently in the fake takeover bid designed to disrupt OpenAI’s future, must cease,” it declared.
FOX Business’ Eric Revell contributed to this report.
Read the full article here
