OpenAI says Elon Musk didn’t simply go away the corporate; he tried to take it over, and the AI analysis large says it has the emails to show it.
In a newly filed countersuit, OpenAI accuses Tesla CEO Elon Musk of making an attempt a hostile takeover of the corporate he helped discovered, utilizing what it referred to as “bad-faith techniques” and a “self-serving narrative.”
OpenAI seeks to dam Elon Musk’s alleged marketing campaign of harassment and disruption, centered on a sham $97 billion takeover bid, whereas looking for compensatory and punitive damages to be decided at a attainable trial, together with injunctive reduction to forestall additional interference.
Elon’s nonstop actions in opposition to us are simply bad-faith techniques to decelerate OpenAI and seize management of the main AI improvements for his private profit. At this time, we counter-sued to cease him.
— OpenAI Newsroom (@OpenAINewsroom) April 9, 2025
“These antics are simply historical past on repeat—Elon being all about Elon,” OpenAI’s official newsroom wrote in a scalding publish on X because it shared inner emails displaying Musk pushing to transform OpenAI right into a for-profit entity.
Whereas Musk has persistently argued that OpenAI strayed from its authentic nonprofit mission, OpenAI alleges Musk himself was the primary to push for a structural overhaul, as long as he was in cost.
As proven within the emails, in November 2015, Musk started questioning OpenAI’s construction in an electronic mail to CEO Sam Altman, writing {that a} “normal C corp with a parallel nonprofit” would doubtless align incentives higher.
Decrypt has but to independently confirm the emails put forth by OpenAI. Representatives for Musk’s firms, Tesla and SpaceX, didn’t instantly reply to Decrypt’s request for remark.
For-profit necessity
In June and July 2017, as OpenAI’s want for compute scaled with its Dota 2 experiments, Musk allegedly inspired enlargement, writing, “Let’s determine the least costly approach to make sure compute energy just isn’t a constraint.”
And that summer time, discussions shifted. On July 13, 2017, Musk allegedly agreed a for-profit mannequin is perhaps needed. Days later, he warned that China’s AI ambitions have been one more reason to “change course.”
OpenAI claims that in September 2017, Musk made his transfer, pushing for “preliminary management” over OpenAI’s board in change for capital and demanding to be CEO.
Emails from that month present him proposing a construction the place he’d appoint 4 out of seven board seats. “I’d unequivocally have preliminary management of the corporate,” he allegedly wrote.
OpenAI alleges Musk additionally directed his crew to include a for-profit shell firm, Open Synthetic Intelligence Applied sciences, Inc., with plans to rehouse OpenAI’s IP underneath it.
Pushback
However OpenAI pushed again. In a candid message, co-founders warned that Musk’s construction risked creating an “AGI dictatorship.”
They rejected the phrases. Musk’s response: “Discussions are over. I’ll not fund OpenAI.”
In January 2018, Musk allegedly proposed spinning OpenAI into Tesla, saying it was the one technique to increase the billions wanted. “OpenAI is on a path of sure failure relative to Google,” he wrote.
In accordance with OpenAI, the crew declined once more, unwilling to change into a Tesla subsidiary. By February 2018, Musk resigned as co-chair and parted methods with OpenAI.
Years later, he has now returned, and this time by way of the courts.
In March, Musk’s lawsuit in opposition to OpenAI sought to dam its transition to a capped-profit construction. A U.S. choose denied the injunction however agreed to an expedited trial, set for fall 2025.
OpenAI had beforehand launched Musk’s emails earlier final yr in response to the lawsuit, portray an image of a founder who, regardless of his public stance, was already advocating for revenue, exclusivity, and consolidation, years earlier than submitting swimsuit.
Amid the chaos, Musk has based a rival AI startup, xAI, which final month merged with X in an all-stock deal valuing xAI at $80 billion.
OpenAI, for its half, introduced a $40 billion funding spherical led by SoftBank, pushing its valuation to $300 billion. That’s almost 4 instances the valuation tied to Musk’s xAI startup.
“We’re on the point of construct the best-equipped nonprofit the world has ever seen,” OpenAI stated in its countersuit. “The concept we deserted the mission is fake. Elon’s personal emails make that clear.”
Edited by Sebastian Sinclair
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