Elon Musk to Proceed with Lawsuit Against OpenAI Despite Nonprofit Control Assurance
Elon Musk will continue pursuing his lawsuit against OpenAI, his attorney Marc Toberoff confirmed on Monday, despite the company reaffirming that its nonprofit parent will retain control over its for-profit arm.
OpenAI, co-founded by Musk, had recently proposed a governance plan that maintains its nonprofit entity’s control over its for-profit operations and gives it a significant shareholder position. However, Musk’s legal team claims the move is superficial and insufficient.
“Nothing in today’s announcement changes the fact that OpenAI will still be developing closed-source AI for the benefit of [CEO Sam] Altman, his investors, and Microsoft,” said Toberoff. He criticized the plan for lacking transparency, particularly regarding the nonprofit’s diluted stake in the for-profit venture.
Musk, who has grown increasingly critical of OpenAI, accuses the company of abandoning its original mission of open-source development for public benefit. His lawsuit aims to block what he describes as a corporate shift toward private enrichment, particularly in favor of Microsoft, a key investor and partner.
OpenAI dismissed Musk’s lawsuit as meritless, with a company spokesperson stating, “Elon continuing with his baseless lawsuit only proves that it was always a bad-faith attempt to slow us down.”
The case is expected to proceed to jury trial in March 2026. It has drawn wide attention from other tech leaders and AI researchers, including Meta and Geoffrey Hinton, the “godfather of AI,” who have raised concerns about the implications of powerful AI being developed under private control without sufficient regulatory oversight.