In recent developments, Elon Musk has escalated his legal battle with Sam Altman by amending a lawsuit against OpenAI.
According to the Wall Street Journal, XAI’s founders are now seeking to remove CEO Sam Altman from the OpenAI nonprofit’s board in the latest amendment.
Additionally, the amendment also mentions the removal of President Greg Brockman from his role at the tech company as part of a lawsuit.
In a significant turn of his ongoing legal battle, Musk has also requested that any potential losses be redirected to the organization’s charitable arm instead of his own pocket.
This latest maneuver underscores the deepening rift between the two tech icons, with the trial set to take place later this month in Oakland, California.
The SpaceX CEO is demanding more than $150 billion in damages from OpenAI and Microsoft based on key allegations. According to Musk, the company has abandoned its original mandate of developing open-source Artificial General Intelligence (AGI).
Musk also alleged that he was being duped into providing seed funding of $38 million under the guise of a non-profit structure, which was shifted towards a commercial and profit-based model.
“Plaintiffs will seek an order removing Altman from the board of the OpenAI nonprofit as a director and removing both Altman and Brockman as officers of the OpenAI for-profit company,” Musk’s lawyers said in a Tuesday filing.
“The removal of charity officers and directors is a common measure where those individuals fail to protect or fulfill the charity’s public mission,” the statement said.
Musk’s lawyer, Mark Toberoff, said, “He is asking the court to return everything that was taken from public donations – and to ensure that those responsible are never in a position to do this again.
OpenAI’s response
Taking the lead, OpenAI released a statement on its official newsroom platform, “Today, at the eleventh hour, Elon filed a petition in a court pretending to change his tune about attacking the non-profit OpenAI Foundation.”
It says, “The truth is that this case has always been about Elon generating more power and more money for what he wants. Realizing that his attempt to damage the nonprofit OpenAI Foundation is based on a baseless legal case, Elon is once again trying to change the narrative and save face as the trial approaches.”
The company also condemned Elon Musk’s lawsuit against OpenAI, calling it nothing more than a “harassment campaign driven by ego, jealousy, and a desire to slow down a competitor.”
