OpenAI reportedly said in a Thursday (Aug. 21) court filing that Tesla, SpaceX and X CEO Elon Musk sought financing arrangements or investments from Meta founder, Chairman and CEO Mark Zuckerberg for his $97.4 billion bid for OpenAI.
Zuckerberg did not join the bid, the filing said, Reuters reported Friday (Aug. 22).
Musk was a co-founder and initial board member of OpenAI, but he left the organization in 2018 due to a disagreement over its future direction and structure.
OpenAI submitted the Thursday filing as part of a lawsuit in which it alleges that Musk attempted to harm the company through “a sham bid for OpenAI’s assets” and other means, according to the report.
The company sued Musk in April after Musk sued OpenAI and its CEO, Sam Altman, over its move to a for-profit model, the report said.
OpenAI asked a judge to order Meta to produce communications related to any bid for OpenAI, saying they would “shed light on the motivations for the bid,” per the report.
Meta said in a court filing that its communications are not relevant to the case and that OpenAI should seek any information it needs from Musk and his AI company, xAI, according to the report.
Musk and a group of investors submitted their $97.4 billion offer to acquire control of OpenAI in February, with Musk saying he wanted to steer the company back to its original mission.
He had filed his lawsuit against OpenAI and Altman in February 2024, accusing the company of deviating from its original mission to develop artificial intelligence that benefits humanity as a whole.
Musk helped start OpenAI in 2015 after Altman and Greg Brockman, co-founders of OpenAI, asked him to help create a nonprofit dedicated to developing artificial general intelligence to benefit humanity.
OpenAI responded in April with a countersuit that alleged Musk engaged in fraudulent business practices under California law.
Musk sought to have the countersuit dismissed or postponed, but a judge ruled that the case should proceed without delay and set a jury trial for March 16, 2026.
On Aug. 12, a judge rejected another attempt by Musk to have OpenAI’s claims thrown out. The judge said OpenAI’s allegations were strong enough for the case to move forward.
PYMNTS reported in February that the drama between Musk and OpenAI is based on an existential debate about whether AI could bring about the demise of humanity.
Source: https://www.pymnts.com/
