OpenAI’s countersuit comes a year after Musk initially sued the startup he once helped bankroll. Last year, the Tesla founder sued the ChatGPT owner for breach of contract, alleging that OpenAI had betrayed its founding principals in its attempt to transition from a nonprofit to a for-profit enterprise. A federal judge denied Musk’s request for a court order blocking OpenAI from making the transition, but offered to expedite a trial. That hearing is currently slated to begin March 2026.
Then, in February, Musk and a consortium of investors made a bid to gobble up OpenAI for themselves for the low price of $97.4 billion, which Altman rejected with his own counteroffer: OpenAI would instead buy X (which Altman called “Twitter”) for $9.74 billion.
Now, in its suit, OpenAI is claiming it “recognized the bid as a feint,” but has been forced to divert resources and has “suffered harm as a result of Musk’s unlawful campaign of harassment, interference, and misinformation.”
Musk’s team is standing its ground. If OpenAI’s board of directors had “genuinely considered the bid, as they were obligated to do, they would have seen how serious it was,” according to Musk’s attorney, Marc Toberoff. “It’s telling that having to pay fair market value for OpenAI’s assets allegedly ‘interferes’ with their business plans,” he continued, per AP. Apparently “boys will be boys” also means pointing fingers ad nauseam until only one party can generate photos of shrimp Jesus.
