Elon Musk and Sam Altman face renewed legal action in federal court over OpenAI lawsuit.

Elon Musk and Sam Altman face renewed legal action in federal court over OpenAI lawsuit.
Elon Musk and Sam Altman face renewed legal action in federal court over OpenAI lawsuit.
  • A federal lawsuit was filed by Elon Musk against Sam Altman, accusing him of being "coerced" into co-founding OpenAI.
  • Musk allegedly invested in OpenAI under the condition that it would remain a non-profit, but later, Altman and others, along with Microsoft, formed a for-profit web of affiliates and engaged in self-dealing.

A federal court filing published on Monday revealed that Elon Musk has revived a lawsuit against Sam Altman, accusing him of being manipulated into co-founding OpenAI.

The main point of Musk's assertions is that he was "deceived" by Altman and Brockman, the current president of OpenAI, into joining the company as a co-founder under the belief that it was a non-profit organization.

The lawsuit alleges that Musk was betrayed by Altman and his accomplices after he invested millions of dollars, as they established an opaque web of for-profit OpenAI affiliates and engaged in rampant self-dealing.

The lawsuit claims that the perfidy and deceit are on par with Shakespearean proportions.

The allegations in the new lawsuit are comparable to those made in a lawsuit filed by Musk against OpenAI and Altman in California earlier this year, which Musk later abandoned.

In a recent lawsuit filed in a Northern California district court, Musk claims that he was deceived by Altman and Brockman into co-founding OpenAI, as they allegedly promised a safer and more open approach to artificial intelligence development compared to profit-driven tech giants.

The lawsuit alleges that Altman promised Musk that the non-profit structure would ensure impartiality, prioritize safety, and promote the greater good for all of humanity, rather than prioritizing shareholder value. However, it is now clear that this was merely a deceptive ploy to lure Musk into the scheme.

CNBC has reached out to Tesla, OpenAI and Microsoft for comment.

The lawsuit also alleges that Microsoft was involved in the situation.

The lawsuit alleges that Microsoft attempted to gain control over OpenAI, a non-profit organization with no shareholders, by encouraging it to rely on Microsoft's cloud computing system.

The lawsuit alleges that despite Musk's admiration for Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, the values of Microsoft and OpenAI, Inc. did not align.

Microsoft has invested the most in OpenAI, with a reported $13 billion poured into the company.

The lawsuit alleges that Microsoft has been gradually deepening its involvement in OpenAI over the past few years until the present day.

- CNBC's Jordan Novet contributed to this report.

by Arjun Kharpal

Technology