BREAKING: OpenAI Countersues Elon Musk, Accuses Him of Harassment and Bid to Seize Control
OpenAI filed a countersuit against Elon Musk on Wednesday, accusing the billionaire entrepreneur of a sustained campaign of harassment and asking a federal judge to block any further “unlawful and unfair action” as the two sides battle over the future structure of the company behind ChatGPT.
The countersuit, filed in the US District Court for the Northern District of California, marks the latest escalation in a bitter legal fight between OpenAI and Musk, who co-founded the company in 2015 but left before it became a major force in artificial intelligence.
Now the CEO of his own AI firm, xAI, Musk has publicly opposed OpenAI’s ongoing transition to a for-profit model. The move is critical to OpenAI’s plans to complete a $40 billion fundraising round by the end of the year.
“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 court filing.
OpenAI is urging the court to prevent Musk from continuing his campaign and to hold him accountable for the “damage he has already caused.”
The two sides are slated to face off in a jury trial beginning next spring.
In response, Musk’s legal team defended a $97.4 billion unsolicited takeover offer made earlier this year by a Musk-led consortium — a bid that OpenAI rejected.
“Had OpenAI’s Board genuinely considered the bid as they were obligated to do, they would have seen how serious it was,” said Musk’s lawyer, Marc Toberoff.
“It’s telling that having to pay fair market value for OpenAI’s assets allegedly ‘interferes’ with their business plans.”
OpenAI pushed back forcefully in a post on X, the social media platform Musk owns, stating: “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.”
In 2024, Musk sued OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman, accusing the firm of straying from its original mission to build artificial general intelligence for the benefit of humanity — not corporate profit. OpenAI and Altman have denied those claims and allege that Musk is attempting to stifle a key competitor.
Meanwhile, Musk’s influence in the AI sector continues to grow. Just last month, xAI acquired X in a deal valuing the social media company at $33 billion, allowing Musk to more closely tie together his AI and social media ventures.
At the heart of the legal battle is OpenAI’s shift to a “capped-profit” model — a structure it says is essential to attract the capital necessary to compete in the resource-intensive AI race. With rising costs and fierce competition, the outcome of the case could shape not just OpenAI’s future, but the trajectory of the global AI landscape.
