As a highly anticipated court hearing approaches, OpenAI sent letters on Monday to the Attorneys General of California and Delaware, urging an investigation into the "improper and anti-competitive conduct" of Elon Musk and his associates.
In the letters, OpenAI's Director of Strategy, Jason Kwon, accused Musk of deliberately undermining OpenAI through a series of "attacks" against the company, including alleged "coordinated actions" with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
In 2015, Musk co-founded the AI lab as a non-profit organization alongside OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and several other researchers and executives. Musk left the company in 2018 after failing to persuade management to merge OpenAI with Tesla Motors. He subsequently founded the rival firm xAI and sued OpenAI in 2024, claiming he was "deliberately manipulated" and "deceived" during the AI firm's transition to a for-profit structure.
Jury selection for that lawsuit is scheduled to begin on April 27 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
Jason Kwon stated in the letter that Musk's actions could potentially hinder OpenAI's progress in developing Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) – AI systems with capabilities that rival or surpass human intelligence.
He wrote, "The purpose of these attacks is to wrest control over the future of AGI from an entity legally obligated to the mission of 'ensuring AGI benefits all of humanity,' and transfer it to competitors who lack mission-driven principles and disregard safety responsibilities."
OpenAI has previously expressed similar concerns regarding Musk's actions.
In January of this year, the company wrote to investors and banking partners, warning that as its lawsuit with Musk moves to trial, it expects Musk to make "deliberately absurd and attention-grabbing statements."
In that January letter, OpenAI stated that Musk was likely to make "detached-from-reality" statements about the AI firm, calling this a "harassment tactic he has employed before."
In Monday's letters, OpenAI cited a recent report from The New Yorker.
That report claimed that Musk and his "intermediaries" conducted an extensive negative investigation into Altman, tracking his flight itineraries and other movements, and collaborated with other industry competitors to disseminate these findings while also fabricating false allegations of sexual misconduct against the OpenAI CEO.
Musk and Jared Birchall, the head of his family office, have not yet responded to requests for comment.
Chris Lehane, Chief of Global Affairs at OpenAI, said on Monday that the "actions and methods employed by Musk and Zuckerberg are, in our view, highly questionable and fully warrant an investigation."
He questioned why "two of the world's top four wealthiest and most powerful individuals" would attempt to obstruct the development of a non-profit organization.
OpenAI's letter also referenced the initial public offering (IPO) of SpaceX. Just days ago, Musk's rocket company confidentially filed for an IPO that is widely expected to be record-breaking.
The letter claimed that if Musk's lawsuit is successful, it would benefit his xAI's Grok AI platform. Grok is currently under global investigation for allegedly generating pornographic deepfakes of women, including minors, without their consent, an action suspected of being aimed at boosting platform engagement ahead of the impending IPO.
For years, Musk has accused Delaware and California of bias against him and his companies, relocating Tesla Motors and SpaceX from California to Texas, and reincorporating several companies originally registered in Delaware to Nevada and Texas.
Additionally, xAI is itself suing California Attorney General Rob Bonta, claiming that the state's newly enacted AI data transparency law violates the company's free speech rights and its ability to protect trade secrets.
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