Key Points:
- OpenAI formally asked attorneys general in California and Delaware to investigate Elon Musk for anti-competitive behavior.
- Musk currently seeks more than $100 billion in damages through a lawsuit he filed against the artificial intelligence company in 2024.
- A judge in Oakland decided in January that a jury will hear the massive legal battle starting this April.
- OpenAI executives claim Musk simply wants to cripple their nonprofit foundation to help his own competing startup succeed.
OpenAI just escalated its bitter legal war with Elon Musk. The artificial intelligence company sent formal letters to top legal officials in California and Delaware on Monday. Executives urged these attorneys general to investigate Musk and his business partners for improper and anti-competitive behavior. This aggressive move comes just weeks before the two sides face off in a massive jury trial scheduled to begin this month.
The conflict centers around a lawsuit Musk filed against OpenAI and its chief executive, Sam Altman, back in 2024. Musk originally helped start the company in 2015. However, he left the board in 2018. Musk now accuses current leadership of abandoning the original nonprofit mission. He claims the company illegally transformed into a money-making business. To punish them, his lawsuit seeks more than $100 billion in damages.
OpenAI leaders say this massive financial demand proves Musk has alternative motives. Chief Strategy Officer Jason Kwon wrote the recent letters to California Attorney General Rob Bonta and Delaware Attorney General Kathy Jennings. Kwon argued that forcing the company to pay $100 billion would completely cripple the nonprofit foundation. He stated that the lawsuit actively undermines the company’s efforts to develop artificial general intelligence that benefits all of humanity.
Kwon also used the letter to defend how state regulators handled recent corporate changes at OpenAI. In previous court documents, Musk suggested that government agencies failed to investigate the plan OpenAI used to recapitalize its business properly. Musk claimed regulators merely accepted empty promises about what the company might do in the future. Kwon pushed back hard against these claims, defending the strict oversight processes in both states.
The bad blood between the two tech titans involves direct business competition. After leaving OpenAI, Musk launched his own artificial intelligence startup, xAI. His new company released a chatbot named Grok to compete directly with ChatGPT. Because they now fight for the same customers, OpenAI lawyers characterize Musk’s lawsuit as a dirty tactic. They believe he simply uses the court system to slow down a superior rival.
Court documents from last August reveal even more behind-the-scenes drama. OpenAI claimed in those filings that Musk actively tried to recruit Mark Zuckerberg to help him buy out OpenAI early last year. The Meta Platforms chief executive ultimately declined the offer and refused to join the bidding consortium. This revelation highlighted how far Musk went to take control of the technology before he decided to file his massive lawsuit.
A judge in Oakland, California, set the stage for the upcoming courtroom showdown. In January, the judge ruled that a jury would hear the case rather than deciding it from the bench alone. This decision means regular citizens will soon listen to arguments involving billions of dollars, advanced technology, and broken business promises.
As the April trial date approaches, both sides continue to trade heavy blows. OpenAI hopes the attorneys general will step in and examine Musk’s aggressive tactics. Meanwhile, Musk pushes forward with his demands for a massive payout. The outcome of this trial will likely shape the entire future of the artificial intelligence industry and decide who controls the most powerful software on the planet.
