Elon Musk files an injunction to stop OpenAI from becoming a for-profit
Elon Musk asked a court to stop Sam Altman, Greg Brockman, OpenAI, and other co-defendants from transitioning the ChatGPT maker into a for-profit enterprise.
Per TechCrunch, Musk filed a motion on Friday evening in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, accusing Altman, Brockman, OpenAI board members, and stakeholder Microsoft of "violating the terms of Musk’s foundational contributions to the charity," and engaging in anticompetitive behavior as OpenAI seeks to convert from non-profit to for-profit status.
"Plaintiffs and the public need a pause," said the court filing. "OpenAI’s path from a non-profit to for-profit behemoth is replete with per se anticompetitive practices, flagrant breaches of its charitable mission, and rampant self-dealing."
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Musk was an early investor and board member of OpenAI, but broke ties with the company in 2018. He later claimed Altman and Brockman violated their agreement of maintaining its non-profit status and developing open-source AI technology. In the past year, Musk has filed a lawsuit for breaching this contract, dropped the lawsuit, and then filed a new "more forceful" lawsuit based on the same claims.
Now, Musk seeks an injunction "to preserve what is left of OpenAI’s nonprofit character, free from self-dealing," according to the motion. "If not, the OpenAI promised to Musk and the public will be long gone by the time the Court reaches the merits."
Musk's injunction accuses OpenAI of engaging in behavior that merits halting the company's conversion. Allegations include an agreement obtained from OpenAI investors to not fund competitors like Musk's xAI, "exclusive arrangements" between OpenAI and Microsoft to collectively achieve market dominance of generative AI products, and Altman's "rampant self-dealing" through OpenAI contracts between companies like Stripe, Rain AI, Helion Energy, and Reddit, where he has financial interests.
In a statement to TechCrunch, an OpenAI spokesperson said "Elon’s fourth attempt, which again recycles the same baseless complaints, continues to be utterly without merit."
Cecily is a tech reporter at Mashable who covers AI, Apple, and emerging tech trends. Before getting her master's degree at Columbia Journalism School, she spent several years working with startups and social impact businesses for Unreasonable Group and B Lab. Before that, she co-founded a startup consulting business for emerging entrepreneurial hubs in South America, Europe, and Asia. You can find her on X at @cecily_mauran.
