Elon Musk will have to answer in court to accusations from OpenAI that he has waged a “years-long harassment campaign” against the company.
U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers on Tuesday rejected Musk’s attempt to dismiss the claims, which say he used lawsuits, social media, and press statements to undermine OpenAI’s work and boost his own AI venture xAI, Bloomberg reported. Also, the next jury trial has been scheduled in 2026.
“Having carefully considered the papers submitted and the pleadings in this action, and for the reasons set forth below, the Court hereby denies plaintiffs’ motion to dismiss the
counterclaims and grants defendants’ motions to dismiss the re-pled claims in the SAC without leave to amend,” said Judge Rogers.
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Rogers found that OpenAI’s April counterclaim had enough legal ground to move forward, while tossing out some of Musk’s allegations against both OpenAI and Microsoft. In June, Musk’s legal team once again urged the court to throw out OpenAI’s countersuit against him.
“You know, I don’t think about him that much. I thought he was just tweeting all day about how much OpenAI sucks, and our model is bad, and, you know, [we’re] not going to be a good company and all that,” Sam Altman told CNBC on Friday, in reference to Musk.
Musk has often taken aim at Altman on X, calling him “Scam Altman” and accusing him of “lies as easily as he breathes.” The feud traces back to February 2024, when Musk sued, claiming Altman and Brockman had promised to keep OpenAI a nonprofit. In response, OpenAI made public Musk’s old emails showing he had once backed turning the group into a for-profit venture. Musk quietly dropped that case in June 2024, offering no reason. Just two months later, he launched a new federal lawsuit, accusing Altman, Brockman, and OpenAI of being a “textbook tale of altruism versus greed.”
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In November 2024, Musk expanded the case to include Microsoft as a defendant. OpenAI hit back, calling the claims “baseless” and telling the BBC, “Elon’s third attempt in less than a year to reframe his claims is even more baseless and overreaching than the previous ones.”
Musk co-founded OpenAI in 2015 with the goal of developing artificial intelligence for the benefit of humanity. However, he left the organization in 2018, citing differences over its direction and leadership. What followed has been less of an open confrontation and more of a simmering cold war through a steady exchange of jabs, public criticism, and legal challenges.