Musk escalates OpenAI suit

Elon Musk is no longer just asking a court to stop OpenAI’s restructuring. In an amended complaint filed this week, he asked for Sam Altman to be removed from OpenAI’s nonprofit board, for Greg Brockman to be removed as an officer, and for any damages to go to OpenAI’s nonprofit arm instead of to Musk. (arstechnica.com) That changes the shape of the case. A lawsuit that started as a fight over corporate structure now also asks a judge to reach into the leadership of one of the world’s most important artificial intelligence labs. (engadget.com) The backstory starts in December 2015, when OpenAI was set up as a Delaware nonprofit and Musk was one of its co-founders alongside Altman and others. The original pitch was that advanced artificial intelligence should be built for the public benefit, not owned like a normal software company. (time.com) Then the money needs changed. In 2019, OpenAI created a capped-profit structure so it could raise far more capital for computing power, staff, and data centers while keeping the nonprofit in control on paper. (techcrunch.com) Musk’s case says that shift broke the original deal. OpenAI’s side says Musk backed a for-profit path years ago, later left, then sued after building rival company xAI in 2023 and failing to buy OpenAI’s assets through a $97.4 billion bid in February 2025. (gizmodo.com) A federal judge already refused Musk’s request for a preliminary injunction that would have paused OpenAI’s restructuring. But the judge also put the dispute on a faster track, setting a jury trial for late April in Oakland, which is why both sides are hardening their positions now. (usatoday.com) OpenAI answered with its own escalation on April 6. In letters to California Attorney General Rob Bonta and Delaware Attorney General Kathy Jennings, the company asked both states to investigate Musk and his associates for what it called improper and anti-competitive behavior. (cnbc.com) OpenAI’s argument is that Musk is not acting like a disappointed donor. It says he is using lawsuits, public attacks, and takeover attempts to slow a direct competitor while he builds xAI and tries to shape who controls the next generation of artificial intelligence. (bloomberg.com) Musk’s new damages request is also a legal signal. By saying the money should go back to the nonprofit, his lawyers are trying to frame the case less like a personal grievance and more like a claim that OpenAI’s charitable mission was diverted and should be restored. (arstechnica.com) The judge and jury will still have to answer the same basic question underneath all of this: when a nonprofit artificial intelligence lab creates profit-seeking subsidiaries to fund giant computing bills, who gets to decide whether that is a necessary evolution or a betrayal of the original mission. (techcrunch.com)