Elon Musk is seeking the removal of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and President Greg Brockman from their leadership positions, according to court documents filed on Tuesday. The request is part of a broader legal action in which the tech billionaire alleges an “illicit for-profit conversion” of the artificial intelligence organization.
Musk initiated the lawsuit in 2024, claiming he was defrauded of $38 million in initial funding provided during the company’s founding in 2015. The filing asserts that these contributions were made under the agreement that OpenAI would operate as a nonprofit entity. OpenAI, currently valued at $852 billion, underwent a restructuring late last year; it now operates as a nonprofit that maintains a 26% stake in a for-profit subsidiary, which manages the ChatGPT platform.
Legal counsel for Musk is requesting that the court strip Altman and Brockman of their authority and recoup the personal financial benefits they allegedly extracted from the company’s transition to for-profit operations. The amended complaint specifies that any damages awarded in the case should be directed to OpenAI’s nonprofit arm.
Institutional Commitments and Military Integration
The legal challenge further emphasizes that both the nonprofit and for-profit entities of OpenAI must adhere to commitments regarding open research and “safety-first AI development” for the benefit of humanity. This tension between profit and safety arrives as both OpenAI and Musk’s own AI firm, xAI, have entered agreements with the Pentagon to integrate their tools into classified military systems.
Sam Altman stated that OpenAI’s cooperation with the U.S. Military is contingent upon the condition that its technology is not utilized for fully autonomous weapons or mass surveillance. These specific restrictions mirror the points of contention that led the U.S. Department of War to designate Anthropic, a previous primary AI provider for the military, as a supply chain risk to national security.
The Department of War’s designation of Anthropic followed the company’s refusal to remove safety safeguards from its Claude model. Anthropic recently asserted that its newest AI model is “extremely autonomous” and possesses reasoning capabilities similar to an advanced security researcher, rendering it too dangerous for public release.
Corporate Counterclaims
OpenAI has dismissed Musk’s allegations as “wholly unfounded,” accusing the billionaire of attempting to discredit the organization. The company has further alleged that Musk is colluding with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg to undermine competition in the AI sector.
Musk’s departure from OpenAI occurred in 2018 following disagreements with Altman. Since then, Musk acquired Twitter (now X) in 2022 and established xAI in 2023.
The case is scheduled to proceed to trial later this month.
