Elon Musk attacked OpenAI CEO Sam Altman after the artificial intelligence mogul sued him for harassment and “using every tool available” to harm the company.
Musk co-founded OpenAI with Altman in 2015 but left the company before it became a juggernaut in the tech world. The MAGA billionaire, who created his own AI firm, xAI, in 2023, has since tried to stop the nonprofit OpenAI from transitioning to a for-profit model, which it must do before the end of the year in order to secure $40 billion in funding from investors.
“Elon’s nonstop actions against us are just bad-faith tactics to slow down OpenAI and seize control of the leading AI innovations for his personal benefit,” the AI firm said in a statement. “Today, we counter-sued to stop him.”
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While Musk’s legal team did not comment on Wednesday’s court filing, the billionaire responded to the news by posting “Scam Altman is at it again” underneath a post announcing the news on X.
In August, Musk sued both OpenAI and Altman, accusing the AI firm of straying from its founding mission of developing artificial intelligence for the benefit of mankind rather than for corporate profit.
The MAGA billionaire alleged that he and the company’s original objective were “betrayed by Altman and his accomplices.”
“Musk has tried every tool available to harm OpenAI,” the company said in Wednesday’s court filing, “through press attacks, malicious campaigns broadcast to Musk’s more than 200 million followers on the social media platform he controls, a pretextual demand for corporate records, harassing legal claims, and a sham bid for OpenAI’s assets.”
“Musk could not tolerate seeing such success for an enterprise he had abandoned and declared doomed,” OpenAI said in Wednesday’s court filing.
In response, Musk’s legal team cited an unsolicited $97.4 billion takeover bid from the billionaire last year, which was rejected by OpenAI.
“Had OpenAI’s Board genuinely considered the bid as they were obligated to do, they would have seen how serious it was. It’s telling that having to pay fair market value for OpenAI’s assets allegedly ‘interferes’ with their business plans,” Musk’s legal team said in a statement to Reuters.
Both OpenAI and Altman denied the allegations and asked the court to order Musk to cease his public attacks on the company.
“Musk’s continued attacks on OpenAI, culminating most recently in the fake takeover bid designed to disrupt OpenAI’s future, must cease,” the filing said. “Musk should be enjoined from further unlawful and unfair action, and held responsible for the damage he has already caused.”
