Elon Musk expands lawsuit against OpenAI, disputes ‘illegal profits’ with Microsoft

Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk expanded his lawsuit against ChatGPT creator OpenAI, adding federal antitrust and other claims and adding Microsoft, OpenAI’s biggest financial backer, as defendants.

Musk’s amended lawsuit, filed Thursday night in federal court in Oakland, California, said Microsoft and OpenAI unlawfully sought to monopolize the market for generative artificial intelligence and sidelined competitors.

Like Musk’s original complaint in August, it accused OpenAI and its chief executive, Sam Altman, of violating contract provisions by putting profits ahead of the public good in the effort to advance AI.

“Never before has a corporation gone from tax-exempt charity to a $157 billion profit-making, market-crippling gorgon — and in just eight years,” the complaint said. It seeks to revoke OpenAI’s license with Microsoft and force them to forfeit “illegally obtained” profits.

OpenAI said in a statement that the latest lawsuit “is even more baseless and excessive than previous ones.” Microsoft declined to comment

“Microsoft’s anti-competitive practices have escalated,” Musk’s lawyer, Marc Toberoff, said in a statement. “Sunlight is the best disinfectant.”

Musk has long held a grudge against OpenAI, a startup he co-founded that has since become the face of generative AI through billions of dollars in funding from Microsoft.

Musk has gained new prominence as a key force in the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump. Trump appointed Musk to a new role designed to cut government waste after he donated millions of dollars to Trump’s Republican campaign.

The expanded lawsuit said OpenAI and Microsoft violated antitrust law by conditioning investment opportunities on agreements not to deal with the companies’ rivals. He said the companies’ exclusive licensing agreement constituted a merger without regulatory approvals.

In a court filing last month, OpenAI accused Musk of pursuing the lawsuit as part of an “increasingly vicious campaign to bully OpenAI for its competitive advantage.”