OpenAI Hits Back, Countersues Elon Musk and Calls for Enjoinment

The attorneys for OpenAI and other defendants, including CEO Sam Altman, called for Musk to be enjoined from “further unlawful and unfair action” and “held responsible for the damage he has already caused” to the defendants. 

Stating the Facts 

According to the filing, OpenAI wants Musk and his allies to stay clear of OpenAI's operations, stating that there could be greater harm if his campaign persists. "Musk’s continued attacks on OpenAI, culminating most recently in [a] fake takeover bid designed to disrupt OpenAI’s future, must cease.”

In an emailed statement, Marc Toberoff, an attorney for Musk, said, “Had OpenAI’s board genuinely considered [Musk’s bid for the company’s nonprofit earlier this year] 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.”

The statement continued, "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 benefit. Today, we countersued to stop him.

— OpenAI Newsroom (@OpenAINewsroom) April 9, 2025

Musk’s suit against OpenAI accuses the startup of abandoning its non-profit mission, which aimed to ensure its AI research benefits all humanity. OpenAI was founded as a non-profit in 2015, but it was converted to a “capped-profit' structure in 2019, and now its management is trying to restructure it once more into a public benefit corporation."

Some Background 

Some time later, Musk sought a preliminary injunction to halt OpenAI’s transition to a for-profit corporation. In March, a federal judge denied the request but permitted the case to go to a jury trial in spring 2026. Musk, once a key supporter of OpenAI, is now perhaps its greatest adversary. The stakes are high for OpenAI, which reportedly needs to complete its for-profit conversion by 2025 or relinquish some of the capital it has raised in recent months.

These developments set the tone for a group of organizations, including non-profits and labor groups like California Teamsters, to petition California Attorney General Rob Bonta this week to stop OpenAI from becoming a for-profit entity. They claimed the company has “failed to protect its charitable assets” and is actively “subverting its charitable mission to advance safe artificial intelligence.”

Encode, a non-profit organization that co-sponsored California’s ill-fated SB 1047 AI safety legislation, voiced similar concerns in an amicus brief filed in December. However, OpenAI continues to reiterate that its conversion would preserve its non-profit arm and infuse it with resources to be spent on “charitable initiatives” in sectors such as healthcare, education, and science.

“We’re actually getting ready to build the best-equipped nonprofit the world has ever seen — we’re not converting it away,” the company wrote in a series of posts on X on Wednesday. “Elon’s never been about the mission. He’s always had his own agenda.”