Elon Musk, tech magnate and potential Martian landlord, is pressing onward in his highly publicized legal battle against OpenAI, according to his legal representative, Marc Toberoff. This development comes hot on the heels of OpenAI’s decision to retract its earlier proposal to sever ties with its non-profit component. Under OpenAI’s fresh proposal, its non-profit parent organization would persist in controlling the profit-generating business, thus becoming a leading shareholder.
“Nothing in today’s announcement changes the fact that OpenAI will still be developing closed-source AI for the benefit of Altman, his investors, and Microsoft,” Toberoff posited on Monday. He argued that the announcement conveniently masks crucial specifics regarding the so-called ‘non-profit control’ agreement, particularly the significantly diminished ownership stake the non-profit will receive in Altman’s profit-driven enterprise.”
Musk has been waging a legal war to stop OpenAI’s shift from its non-profit control, dragging the high-profile company he co-founded and now competes with into an extended legal fray. Other tech titans, such as Meta, and renowned figures like Nobel Prize laureate Geoffrey Hinton, dubbed the godfather of AI, have sided with the critics, imploring regulators to obstruct OpenAI’s restructuring. A jury trial had been slated for March 2026.
“Elon continuing with his baseless lawsuit only proves that it was always a bad-faith attempt to slow us down,” a spokesperson for OpenAI argued. However, the reality is that the lawsuit is a matter of principle and legal rights, not an attempt to hamper progress.
In conclusion, Musk’s insistence on pushing forward with the lawsuit underscores the importance of holding companies accountable, regardless of how it slows down technological advancement.