OpenAI files lawsuit against Elon Musk

The tense relationship between Elon Musk and OpenAI continues to increase as recently, the company behind ChatGPT officially filed a lawsuit against the Tesla founder, accusing him of using various measures to “harm” the company and hinder their operations.

OpenAI claims that Elon Musk — who co-founded OpenAI in 2015 — has waged a “sustained campaign of harassment,” including social media, legal complaints, and an unconstructive acquisition offer, to pressure and undermine the company, according to a legal filing filed on April 9 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

Elon Musk sued by OpenAI.
“Mr. Musk has tried every tool available to him to harm OpenAI,” the lawsuit reads. “From social media attacks, to spreading false information, to harassing legal actions.” OpenAI asks the court to issue an injunction to prevent Elon Musk from continuing the alleged harmful conduct and to hold him liable for damages.

It is known that in February 2025, Elon Musk and a group of investors submitted an offer to buy OpenAI for up to $ 97.4 billion. However, this offer was rejected by the company’s board of directors. In response, Mr. Musk repeatedly posted criticisms aimed at OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman on the X platform (formerly Twitter) – the social network owned by himself. In a post, he called Altman a “fraud” and said that OpenAI had deviated from its original mission of developing artificial intelligence for the common good of humanity.

OpenAI, on the other hand, claims that Musk himself left the company in 2018 and has since made repeated moves to undermine the organization he helped found. “He cannot accept that an organization he abandoned has achieved extraordinary success,” the lawsuit states.

Elon Musk is currently running xAI, an artificial intelligence company he founded in mid-2023, which is considered a direct competitor to OpenAI. In March, he announced that xAI had been merged into the social networking platform X through a stock swap. Meanwhile, OpenAI continues to grow strongly, with more than 500 million weekly users of its virtual assistant ChatGPT and a revenue target of nearly $13 billion in 2025.

The lawsuit between Elon Musk and OpenAI marks a new chapter in the complicated relationship between the two, once allies turned rivals. The trial is scheduled for spring 2026.