According to Odaily, Elon Musk's legal team has filed for a preliminary injunction against OpenAI, several of its co-founders, and its investor and close partner, Microsoft. The motion was submitted late Friday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. It accuses OpenAI, its CEO Sam Altman, President Greg Brockman, Microsoft, LinkedIn co-founder and former OpenAI board member Reid Hoffman, and former OpenAI board member and Microsoft Vice President Dee Templeton of engaging in various illegal activities and seeks to halt these actions.
The allegations include preventing investors from supporting OpenAI's competitors, such as Musk's AI company xAI. It also claims that OpenAI and Microsoft have benefited from "illegally obtained competitive sensitive information" through their relationship. Furthermore, the motion accuses OpenAI of transforming its governance structure into a for-profit model and "transferring any material assets, including intellectual property owned, held, or controlled by OpenAI, Inc., its subsidiaries, or affiliates." Additionally, it alleges that OpenAI is being forced to conduct business with organizations in which any defendant has a "significant economic interest."
Musk's attorneys argue that if the injunction is not granted, it will cause "irreparable harm." In previous litigation, Musk contended that he was misled out of more than $44 million, claiming that the funds he donated to OpenAI were exploited due to his "well-known concerns about the dangers of artificial intelligence." Musk, one of the co-founders of OpenAI, left the company in 2018 due to disagreements over its direction.