Elon Musk asks court to block OpenAI from converting to a for-profit

Elon Musk is asking a federal court to stop OpenAI from converting into a fully for-profit business.

Attorneys representing Musk, his AI startup xAI, and former OpenAI board member Shivon Zilis filed for a preliminary injunction against OpenAI on Friday. The injunction would also stop OpenAI from allegedly requiring its investors to refrain from funding competitors, including xAI and others.

The latest court filings represent an escalation in the legal feud between Musk, OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman, as well as other long-involved parties and backers including tech investor Reid Hoffman and Microsoft.

Musk had originally sued OpenAI in March 2024 in a San Francisco state court, before withdrawing that complaint and refiling several months later in federal court. Attorneys for Musk in the federal suit, led by Marc Toberoff in Los Angeles, argued in their complaint that OpenAI has violated federal racketeering, or RICO, laws.

In mid-November, they expanded their complaint to include allegations that Microsoft and OpenAI had violated antitrust laws when the Chat GPT-maker allegedly asked investors to agree to not invest in rival companies, including Musk's newest startup, xAI.

Microsoft declined to comment.

 In their motion for preliminary injunction, attorneys for Musk argue that OpenAI should be prohibited from "benefitting from wrongfully obtained competitively sensitive information or coordination via the Microsoft-OpenAI board interlocks."

"Elon's fourth attempt, which again recycles the same baseless complaints, continues to be utterly without merit," an OpenAI spokesperson said in a statement.

OpenAI has emerged as one of the biggest startups in recent years, with ChatGPT becoming a major hit that has helped usher massive