Judge Allows OpenAI Harassment Claims Against Musk to Proceed

A federal judge refused to accept Elon Musk’s request to dismiss OpenAI’s claims about his extended harassment of the artificial intelligence company he co-founded in 2015 before leaving.

U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers made a decision on Tuesday that OpenAI’s claims were sufficient to proceed with their countersuit against Tesla CEO Elon Musk in their ongoing legal dispute.

Musk initiated the dispute through his lawsuit against OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman during the previous year when he accused the company of abandoning its nonprofit mission to focus on profits. OpenAI filed a counterclaim in April which stated that Musk used public statements together with legal actions and a fake asset acquisition attempt to damage the business.

Musk requested dismissal or postponement of the countersuit but OpenAI maintained that the case should continue without delay. The judge accepted the company’s claims because they met the necessary standards at this point.

The disagreement demonstrates how personal and strategic conflicts have grown more intense since Musk left the company especially after OpenAI achieved worldwide success with ChatGPT. The company faces criticism because it transitioned from a non-profit to a commercial business model after Microsoft acquired part of its ownership. Through his new AI venture xAI Musk established an alternative to OpenAI’s technology while he continues to develop his own AI system.