Elon Musk seeks ouster of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman as part of lawsuit

Elon Musk is taking significant legal action against OpenAI, aiming to remove CEO Sam Altman and President Greg Brockman from their positions as part of a lawsuit set for trial later this month. In a legal filing submitted on Tuesday, Musk's legal team outlined the specific changes they are seeking, contingent on a jury determining that Altman and OpenAI deceived Musk, who is currently the world's richest individual. Musk's lawsuit, initiated in 2024, accuses the AI organization, which he co-founded nearly a decade ago, of having "manipulated" and "deceived" him into contributing $38 million based on assurances that OpenAI would maintain its nonprofit status. The conflict has escalated into a public feud, marked by both legal proceedings and increasing business competition between Musk and OpenAI. In the recent court filing, Musk's attorneys stated, "Plaintiff will seek an order removing Altman as a director from the OpenAI nonprofit board and removing both Altman and Brockman as officers of the OpenAI for-profit." They highlighted that such removal is a standard remedy when charity officials fail to uphold the organization's mission. Additionally, Musk is requesting that the court mandate OpenAI to revert to its original nonprofit framework, following a restructuring that took place in October, which established it as a nonprofit with a 26% stake in its for-profit branch, including the ChatGPT platform. The trial is set to commence with jury selection on April 27 in Oakland, California. OpenAI has not responded publicly to requests for comments on the matter. Musk, along with Altman and others, founded OpenAI as a nonprofit AI research lab in 2015, but Musk departed in 2018 after attempting to merge it with his electric vehicle company, Tesla. In 2023, Musk launched a rival venture, xAI, which has introduced an AI image generator and chatbot named Grok. Following this, Musk's SpaceX acquired xAI, which also includes X (previously known as Twitter), in a deal that valued the combined entities at an astonishing $1.25 trillion. Recently, SpaceX filed confidential documents with the SEC, hinting at a potential record-setting IPO. On the eve of the trial, OpenAI reached out to the attorneys general of California and Delaware, urging them to investigate what they termed "improper and anti-competitive behavior" by Musk and his associates. In this correspondence, OpenAI's strategy chief, Jason Kwon, accused Musk of orchestrating efforts to undermine the organization, including alleged collaborations with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Musk's legal team previously claimed in a January filing that he is entitled to up to $134 billion in damages from OpenAI and its primary investor, Microsoft, describing these as "wrongful gains" derived from his early contributions to the organization. In the latest filing, Musk's lawyers reiterated their demand for the return of all profits deemed unjustly acquired by OpenAI and Microsoft back to the charity.