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OpenAI Urges Antitrust Scrutiny of Elon Musk Ahead of Trial

By  |  April 7, 2026

OpenAI has called on regulators in California and Delaware to examine what it describes as potentially anticompetitive conduct by Elon Musk and his associates, according to Reuters, as the company prepares for a major courtroom clash set to begin this month.

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    In a letter sent Monday to California Attorney General Rob Bonta and Delaware Attorney General Kathy Jennings, OpenAI raised concerns that Musk’s actions may warrant antitrust scrutiny. Per Reuters, the company argued that the lawsuit filed by Musk seeks more than $100 billion in damages from its nonprofit foundation, a demand it said could effectively cripple the organization and distort competition in the artificial intelligence (AI) sector.

    The dispute originates from a lawsuit Musk filed in 2024 against OpenAI, its CEO, Sam Altman, and others. According to Reuters, Musk alleges that OpenAI has abandoned its founding mission by restructuring toward a for-profit model. Musk, who co-founded OpenAI in 2015 but left in 2018, has since launched a competing AI company, xAI, which developed the chatbot Grok.

    OpenAI has rejected Musk’s claims and, per Reuters, previously alleged in court filings that Musk attempted to recruit Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg to support a consortium bid for control of OpenAI last year. Zuckerberg ultimately did not join the effort.

    Related: OpenAI Accused in Chicago Lawsuit of Acting as Unlicensed Legal Advisor

    A judge in Oakland, California, ruled in January that the case will proceed to a jury trial, with proceedings expected to begin this month. According to Reuters, the upcoming trial is likely to draw significant attention given the high stakes and the influence of the parties involved in the rapidly evolving AI industry.

    In its letter, OpenAI’s chief strategy officer Jason Kwon warned that Musk’s legal actions could have broader consequences for innovation and competition. He said the lawsuit risks undermining the company’s efforts to ensure that artificial general intelligence benefits humanity. Kwon also suggested that regulators may not have fully examined OpenAI’s restructuring plans, stating that Musk’s filings “suggest that your offices did not thoroughly investigate OpenAI’s plan to recapitalize and merely relied on promises about what OpenAI will do in the future.”

    Source: Reuters