# Elon Musk sues OpenAI
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elon-musk-sues-openai/1029640
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Tags:** ai
**Created:** [April 29, 2026, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elon-musk-sues-openai/1029640 "2026-04-29T10:54:11Z")
**Posts on this page:** 5
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)
#### Post date: [April 29, 2026, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elon-musk-sues-openai/1029640/1 "2026-04-29T10:54:12Z")
This is a big deal as both sides are backed by huge amounts of cash and the stakes are considerable. I have no doubt that Musk is suing them out of malice and vengeance since they’re a major competitor and former partner. Musk’s alleged fear of the impact of AI on society is hugely hypocritical as his own Grok is the most poorly managed and reckless of them all.
And yet, this aspect of it (first paragraph) seems to make some sense:
> The jury’s verdict will advise Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers as she decides whether Musk gets his wish: reversion of OpenAI to a nonprofit structure, the removal of Altman and Brockman from OpenAI’s board, and around $130 billion in damages to go back into OpenAI’s nonprofit foundation.
>
> Beyond the remedies Musk is demanding, the trial threatens to derail one of the world’s largest AI companies – and one of Musk’s biggest artificial intelligence rivals – as it makes plans to go public as early as this year. OpenAI has consistently pushed back against Musk’s claims and says his suit is one based on jealousy and regret.
This may be a classic case of “doing the right thing for the wrong reasons”. Everything that Elmo does is in the service of self-interest, but sometimes, when you wobble around like a drunken sailor, the things you hit might deserve to be hit.
> **[Elon Musk testifies in a case that could change the path of AI | CNN Business](https://www.cnn.com/2026/04/28/tech/elon-musk-sam-altman-openai)**
>
> Elon Musk on Tuesday testified that his lawsuit against OpenAI and its leaders goes well beyond one company and into the future of a technology that “could also kill us all.”
---
### Author:  [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)
#### Post date: [April 29, 2026, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elon-musk-sues-openai/1029640/2 "2026-04-29T11:35:12Z")
Claude has an interesting in-depth take on the situation. In the spirit of not posting AI responses on the board, I’ve hidden it, but it’s a good read!
> **Summary**
>
> This is a genuinely fascinating case with legitimate arguments and complications on both sides. Here’s a fair breakdown:
>
> What Musk has going for him:
>
> Musk co-founded and helped fund OpenAI as a nonprofit in 2015, contributing at least $44 million in its early years. The core legal question — whether a nonprofit’s founders and donors have standing to demand it honor its original charitable mission — is actually a serious one. OpenAI did transition from a nonprofit to a for-profit subsidiary, and then further into a for-profit public benefit corporation. That’s a substantial structural shift from what donors were originally told they were funding.
>
> What works against Musk:
>
> OpenAI’s counter-narrative is pointed: they say Musk himself pushed for a for-profit structure, and that he left the company because he was unable to assume total control — and that the suit is motivated by jealousy and a desire to derail a competitor. That framing, if supported by the evidence, would significantly undermine his credibility as a principled defender of OpenAI’s mission.
>
> Hundreds of pages of emails, texts, and documents submitted as evidence will provide an inside view — communications that, in many cases, take very different positions in private than in public social media declarations. That kind of documentary record tends to be brutal in litigation.
>
> The optics problem:
>
> Musk’s lawyers struck several potential jurors who harshly criticized him, including one who called him “greedy” and another whose partner’s job was harmed by DOGE. The judge herself noted that many people simply don’t like him. That’s a real liability in a jury trial, regardless of the legal merits.
>
> The bigger picture:
>
> What makes this case genuinely important beyond the personal rivalry is the underlying question it raises: can a for-profit company ethically absorb the assets built under a charitable, public-benefit mission? That’s a question with implications far beyond OpenAI. The outcome could also affect OpenAI’s plans to go public, potentially as early as this year, which could be a blockbuster IPO that shapes AI industry dominance.
>
> My honest read: the lawsuit has real legal substance buried under a lot of personal grievance. The evidence trail will likely tell a messier story than either side’s public narrative. Whatever one thinks of Musk personally, the question of whether nonprofit missions can be abandoned once commercial opportunity grows is worth a court taking seriously.
---
### Author:  [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)
#### Post date: [April 29, 2026, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elon-musk-sues-openai/1029640/3 "2026-04-29T11:51:37Z")
[ ](https://media1.tenor.com/m/XyiXcdTThBcAAAAC/let-them-fight-dr-ishiro-serizawa.gif)
---
### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [April 29, 2026, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elon-musk-sues-openai/1029640/4 "2026-04-29T22:42:26Z")
Hey, this might even turn OpenAI into an actually open company!
---
### Author:  [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)
#### Post date: [April 30, 2026, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elon-musk-sues-openai/1029640/5 "2026-04-30T13:00:37Z")
It’s a dilemma.
One one hand, I’m not fond of the bait-and-switch OpenAI pulled.
OTOH, fuck Elon Musk.