ChatGPT maker OpenAI calls for investigation into Elon Musk for anti-competitive behaviour
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In his efforts to block OpenAI from restructuring as a for-profit company, billionaire Elon Musk is seeking as much as US$134 billion in damages from the ChatGPT maker and Microsoft.
PHOTO: AFP
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AUSTIN, Texas – OpenAI urged the attorneys-general of California and Delaware to investigate potential “improper and anti-competitive behaviour” by billionaire Elon Musk in his efforts to block OpenAI from restructuring as a for-profit company.
Mr Jason Kwon, chief strategy officer at OpenAI, said in an April 6 letter to both state officials that Mr Musk “has repeatedly attempted – and failed – to wrest control of the non-profit for his personal gain” in a bid to take control over the future of artificial intelligence.
The letter comes weeks before Mr Musk is set to face off in a trial against OpenAI and Microsoft over the billionaire’s allegations that the start-up betrayed its founding mission as a public charity by taking billions of dollars in backing from the software giant and making plans to convert to a for-profit business.
Mr Musk is seeking as much as US$134 billion (S$172 billion) in damages from OpenAI and Microsoft.
He co-founded OpenAI with chief executive Sam Altman and others in 2015, but the former business partners have become bitter foes in recent years. Mr Musk left OpenAI’s board in 2018 and, in 2023, co-founded AI company xAI, which has become one of OpenAI’s main rivals.
In 2025, OpenAI rejected Mr Musk’s unsolicited bid to acquire the assets of the non-profit that controls the company for US$97.4 billion.
OpenAI’s Mr Kwon mentions the looming trial in his letter, saying that the case could undermine agreements that both states reached with the company when it finalised its restructuring plan in October.
“Mr Musk’s lawsuit is not just against OpenAI; it is about whether there is room in the industry for a company subject to the mission and structure outlined in the October agreements, or whether that ground must be ceded to Mr Musk and his co-conspirators,” Mr Kwon said.
OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, said when it announced its restructuring that it had given a 27 per cent ownership stake to Microsoft in a transition that will keep the start-up’s non-profit arm in control of its for-profit operations.
California Attorney-General Rob Bonta and Delaware Attorney-General Kathy Jennings conducted reviews and ultimately decided not to object to the for-profit shift after OpenAI made certain commitments to both leaders about how the company’s governance structure would function.
A spokesperson for Mr Bonta said his office is reviewing the letter. A representative for Ms Jennings and a lawyer for Mr Musk did not immediately respond to requests for comment. BLOOMBERG
