On Wednesday, OpenAI filed a countersuit against Elon Musk, accusing him of ongoing harassment and asking a federal judge to block him from taking any more "unlawful and unfair" actions against the company. The legal battle centres around the future structure of OpenAI, which played a major role in launching the AI revolution.

Musk co-founded OpenAI with CEO Sam Altman in 2015 but left before the company rose to prominence. In 2023, he started his own AI company, xAI, and has recently tried to stop OpenAI from shifting to a for-profit model. The lawsuit comes at a crucial time, as OpenAI must complete this transition by the end of the year to secure its full $40 billion funding round.

"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 has tried every tool available to harm OpenAI," the company mentioned this in a filing related to Musk's ongoing lawsuit against OpenAI in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. OpenAI has requested the judge to stop Musk’s actions and to have him "held responsible for the damage he has already caused."

The two sides are scheduled for a jury trial in the spring of next year. Musk’s legal team hasn’t responded yet to requests for comment. Meanwhile, in a post on X, the platform Musk owns, OpenAI shared, "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." Just last month, Musk’s AI company, xAI, acquired X in a deal that values the social media platform at $33 billion, allowing xAI’s value to be shared with X’s co-investors.

Last year, Elon Musk, who also heads Tesla, filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman, accusing them of drifting away from OpenAI’s original goal of creating AI for the benefit of humanity rather than for profit. Musk didn’t respond when asked to comment on OpenAI’s recent filing.

OpenAI and Altman have denied Musk’s claims, with Altman countering that Musk is simply trying to slow down a competing company. The heart of the legal battle lies in OpenAI’s shift to a for-profit model, which the company says is essential to attract funding and stay competitive in the costly AI race.

Earlier this year, Altman, reaffirming that OpenAI isn’t up for sale, turned down an unsolicited $97.4 billion takeover offer from a group led by Musk, responding with a polite “no thank you.”