OpenAI Seeks Dismissal of Elon Musk’s Lawsuit, Calling It a “Harassment Campaign”

TLDR:

• OpenAI filed a motion to dismiss Elon Musk’s lawsuit, calling it harassment
• The company claims Musk’s allegations lack legal basis
• OpenAI denies breaching any contract or committing fraud
• Musk’s standing to bring certain claims is challenged by OpenAI
• The dispute stems from disagreements over OpenAI’s mission and business model

OpenAI, the company behind the popular ChatGPT artificial intelligence chatbot, has filed a motion to dismiss a lawsuit brought by tech billionaire Elon Musk.

The AI firm argues that Musk’s claims lack legal merit and amount to a “harassment campaign” aimed at giving him a competitive edge in the AI industry.

The motion, filed on October 8, 2024, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, responds to Musk’s lawsuit from August. Musk, who co-founded OpenAI in 2015 but left the company in 2018, has accused the firm of breaching its original mission to develop AI for the “benefit of humanity, not profit.”

OpenAI’s legal team characterizes Musk’s lawsuit as “the latest move in Elon Musk’s increasingly blusterous campaign to harass OpenAI for his own competitive advantage.” They argue that Musk abandoned the venture when he failed to dominate it and is now using the legal system to gain an edge for his own AI company, xAI.

What I said today to the NYT about the Musk-OpenAI lawsuit: pic.twitter.com/UJXugkHAVY

— Gary Marcus (@GaryMarcus) March 2, 2024

The dispute centers around OpenAI’s transition from a non-profit to a “capped-profit” model. Musk claims this shift betrayed the company’s founding principles and that he was misled into financing an organization that would later become profit-driven.

OpenAI, however, maintains that its mission remains unchanged and that the new structure allows it to raise the capital needed for expensive AI research while still prioritizing its original goals.

In its motion to dismiss, OpenAI challenges Musk’s legal standing to bring certain claims. The company argues that under California law, only specific parties, such as officers, directors, or those with certain interests in the non-profit’s assets, have the right to sue for fiduciary breach. OpenAI contends that Musk does not meet these criteria.

The AI firm also refutes Musk’s allegations of fraud and violations of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO). OpenAI’s lawyers state that Musk has not provided any proof to support these claims and dismisses them as “puffed-up versions of his untenable contract claims.”

This legal battle is part of an ongoing feud between Musk and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. Since leaving OpenAI, Musk has been critical of the company’s direction and has launched his own AI platform, Grok, on X (formerly Twitter).

The court has set a date of November 12, 2024, for a hearing on the motion to dismiss at the federal courthouse in Oakland, California.