OpenAI Claims Elon Musk’s ‘Ambush’ Ahead of $100 Billion Trial
OpenAI states that Elon Musk has unexpectedly altered his approach regarding his lawsuit against the startup in what they describe as a “legal ambush” just weeks prior to the trial. In a court filing late Friday night, OpenAI stated that the objectives Musk proposed earlier in the week seem to be designed for “sandbagging the defendants and injecting chaos into the proceedings, while trying to recast his public narrative about his lawsuit.” Musk filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft Corp. in 2024, alleging that the creator of ChatGPT strayed from its original mission as a research institution after accepting billions in funding from the software giant and initiating its transformation into a for-profit entity.
A trial concerning those allegations is scheduled for April 27. OpenAI and Microsoft have asserted that they have done nothing wrong. The world’s richest person informed the court in January that he was pursuing between $79 billion and $134 billion in “wrongful gains” from his opponents, largely reflecting the significant increase in OpenAI’s value since he collaborated with Sam Altman and others to establish the startup in 2015. A ruling of such significance would rank among the largest court awards in US history. In a recent filing, Musk’s lawyers asserted that any financial gains he secures at trial ought to be directed back to OpenAI rather than to himself.
They also stated that Musk seeks for the court to reverse OpenAI’s conversion and to supervise its financings and transactions moving forward to ensure it remains aligned with its original mission — and for Altman to be removed from his leadership positions as OpenAI’s chief executive officer and board member. In a filing on Friday, OpenAI stated that these last-minute proposals are “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.”
