OpenAI seeks to block Elon Musk’s bid to halt shift to for-profit model
OpenAI asked a federal judge in California on Friday to deny a request from billionaire Elon Musk to block the company’s conversion to a for-profit model.
To support its case, OpenAI released a collection of emails and text messages with Musk on its website, highlighting his initial support for the move before leaving the company after failing to secure a majority equity stake and full control.
Musk, an early OpenAI investor and board member, sued the artificial intelligence company earlier this year, alleging it had betrayed its founding aims as a nonprofit research lab benefiting the public good rather than pursuing profits.
Musk has since escalated the dispute, adding new claims and asking for a court order that would stop OpenAI’s plans to convert itself into a for-profit business more fully.
“OpenAI and Microsoft together exploiting Musk’s donations so they can build a for-profit monopoly, one now specifically targeting xAI, is just too much,” says Musk’s filing that alleges the companies are violating the terms of Musk’s foundational contributions to the charity.
A lawyer for Musk did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday.
OpenAI’s court filing denied any conspiracy to restrain AI market competition, and it said Musk’s request for a preliminary injunction was based on “unsupported allegations.” In a blog post, OpenAI added that Musk “should be competing in the marketplace rather than the courtroom.”
In a separate court filing on Friday, Microsoft said it and OpenAI are “independent companies” that pursue their own strategies and compete with each other, as well as with other companies, emphasising that its partnership with OpenAI has “fuelled innovation between them and others.”
OpenAI started as a nonprofit in 2014 and has become the face of generative AI through billions of dollars in funding from Microsoft. In October, it closed a $6.6 billion funding round from investors, which could value the company at $157 billion.
The world’s richest man, whose companies include Tesla, SpaceX, and social media platform X, last year started his own rival AI company, xAI. Musk says it faces unfair competition from OpenAI and its close business partner Microsoft, which has supplied the huge computing resources needed to build AI systems such as ChatGPT.
