OpenAI Sues Elon Musk Over "Malicious" Actions Amid Ongoing AI Power Struggle
- Minseo Kim
- Apr 14
- 2 min read
April 14 2025
By Minseo Kim
OpenAI has filed a lawsuit against Elon Musk, accusing the Tesla and SpaceX CEO of engaging in a pattern of malicious behavior aimed at undermining the AI company. The lawsuit, submitted in U.S. court, claims that Musk has repeatedly attacked OpenAI in an attempt to destroy it and has demanded that these actions be stopped immediately.
According to OpenAI, Musk's recent lawsuit—which seeks to halt OpenAI's transition into a for-profit structure—is part of a broader effort to sabotage the organization. In addition, OpenAI labeled Musk’s $97.4 billion acquisition proposal earlier this year as illegitimate and abusive. The company claims the offer, which is worth less than one-third of its estimated valuation, was a 'fake acquisition attempt' which was meant to obstruct OpenAI's operations, rather than a genuine business move.
The battle adds another chapter to the complex history between Musk and OpenAI. Musk co-founded OpenAI in 2015 alongside current CEO Sam Altman but parted ways in 2018 after the board rejected his proposal to merge OpenAI with Tesla. Since then, tensions have only escalated, especially following the launch of Grok, an AI chatbot developed by Musk’s company xAI, which competes with OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
Meanwhile, OpenAI continues to push forward in the generative AI race. The company recently announced new capabilities for ChatGPT. This allowed AI to automatically remember users' previous conversations to deliver more personalized and contextually aware responses. While memory features were previously available, the new update introduces seamless, automatic memory of user context—initially rolling out to ChatGPT Plus subscribers.
As the rivalry between AI titans intensifies, the battle between OpenAI and Musk signals a deeper clash over the future of artificial intelligence and its governance.
