OpenAI warns Elon Musk is escalating attacks as their trial nears

As the trial date nears for a showdown between Elon Musk and OpenAI, the artificial intelligence company has sent a letter to the attorneys general in California and Delaware accusing Musk of “anti-competitive behavior.”

The letter, seen by both CNBC and the Sacramento Bee, alleges that Musk has been attempting to undermine OpenAI through a series of “attacks” on the company. OpenAI also accuses Musk of “coordinating his efforts” with Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg, saying the two billionaires are “turning to conduct and approaches that we do think are really highly questionable and sharply worthy of investigation.”

“It appears that Mr. Musk has reached new lows, as it has been just reported today that he is directing the circulation of false and wholly unfounded allegations in the press in a last-ditch effort to discredit OpenAI and its leadership,” wrote OpenAI strategy chief Jason Kwon in the letter.

Neither X nor Meta replied to requests for comment on the allegations.

Kwon asked authorities to investigate any “anti-competitive” and “improper” behavior by Musk and his associates, pointing to a story that ran Monday in The New Yorker. The report said Musk had hired investigators to conduct extensive surveillance on OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, including tracking his flights, the parties he attended, and conducting interviews with a purported sex worker.

The story included several lurid claims, though The New Yorker said it could find no evidence to support any of them. Altman stringently denied the rumors, calling the gossip “disgusting behavior from a competitor that I assume is part of an attempt at tainting the jury in our upcoming cases.”

The history between Musk and Altman is complicated. The two co-founded OpenAI in 2015 as a nonprofit but had a falling out that led to Musk leaving in 2018 and eventually starting his own AI company. In 2024, he sued OpenAI, saying he was “assiduously manipulated” and “deceived” after the company explored becoming a for-profit entity. Jury selection for that case is scheduled to begin on April 27.

In his letter, Kwon said the “attacks” could disrupt OpenAI’s efforts to develop artificial general intelligence (AGI), systems that equal or surpass human intelligence.

“These attacks are designed to take control of the future of AGI out of the hands of those who are legally obligated to pursue the mission of ensuring that AGI benefits all of humanity, and put it into the hands of competitors who lack mission-driven principles and spurn any responsibility for safety,” Kwon wrote.

While the letter names Zuckerberg, it offers little detail about the allegations against him. A report last month from Engadget, however, described text messages between Musk and Zuckerberg from last February.

The exchange initially focused on Musk’s work with DOGE, but he later asked whether Zuckerberg was “open to the idea of bidding on the OpenAI IP with me and some others.” Zuckerberg replied that he would prefer to “discuss it live,” and a phone call was set up for the following day. (Zuckerberg never officially joined the bid to buy OpenAI.)

The history between Musk and Zuckerberg is also fraught. Musk has previously challenged Zuckerberg to a cage match, referred to him as a “cuck,” and proposed a penis-size competition. After The President took office for the second time, however, the two appeared to set aside their differences and became allies.

The letter is not the first time OpenAI has raised concerns about Musk’s behavior. Earlier this year, the company warned investors and banking partners that it expected the Tesla CEO to make “deliberately outlandish, attention-grabbing claims” as the trial approached that were not “grounded in reality” and were “typical of the harassment tactics he’s previously deployed.”

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