The legal battle between Elon Musk and Sam Altman’s OpenAI took a different turn on Friday (April 10) when the ChatGPT-maker accused the world’s richest man of launching a “legal ambush”, pointing out a sudden change in what he wants from his lawsuit just weeks before the case goes to trial.
In a court filing, OpenAI said Musk’s new proposals appeared designed to “sandbag the defendants and inject chaos into the proceedings, while trying to recast his public narrative about his lawsuit.” According to a report by Bloomberg, the company’s lawyers called the these 11th-hour moves “legally improper and factually unsupported”. OpenAI’s lawyers wrote: “Musk’s proposed amendment would require the presentation of different evidence and different witnesses than the case he sponsored until three days ago.”
What Elon Musk is asking for
Having told the court in January that he was seeking between $79 billion and $134 billion in “wrongful gains” from OpenAI and Microsoft, Musk’s lawyers filed documents earlier this week saying any money he wins at trial should go back to OpenAI rather than to him personally.As part of the amendment, Musk has made it clear that “is not seeking a single dollar for himself,” said his lawyer, Marc Toberoff. “He is asking the court to return everything that was taken from a public charity-and to make sure the people responsible are never in a position to do this again.
That was the essence of his complaint from the outset of this case, until OpenAl’s spin doctors got to work distorting it. This filing sets the record straight,” Toberoff said in a statement as quoted by the publication.Musk is also asking the court to order the removal of Sam Altman from his roles as OpenAI’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and board member. He has also called for the ouster of OpenAI president Greg Brockman, and requesting that both men hand over any equity or financial benefits they hold to OpenAI’s charitable arm.Additionally, Musk wants the court to unwind OpenAI’s conversion to a for-profit structure to ensure the company does not stray from what he describes as its original nonprofit mission.OpenAI said that Musk’s “lawsuit remains nothing more than a harassment campaign that’s driven by ego, jealousy and a desire to slow down a competitor.”
How the lawsuit began
Musk filed his lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft in 2024, alleging that OpenAI had betrayed the founding principles of the organisation he helped create alongside Sam Altman and others in 2015. A trial on those allegations is scheduled for April 27 in Oakland, California. Both OpenAI and Microsoft have denied any wrongdoing.
