'Musk Could Not Tolerate Seeing Such Success' — OpenAI Says He Abandoned And Declared Them 'Doomed,' Then Tried to Destroy It All

If you ask OpenAI, Elon Musk didn't just walk away from the company he helped build — he lit the match and now wants to watch it burn.

In a scorching new legal filing, OpenAI fired back at Musk's ongoing lawsuit with a detailed and unfiltered version of events — accusing him of abandoning the company, declaring it dead on arrival, and later launching a campaign to destroy it when it refused to hand him the reins.

"Musk could not tolerate seeing such success for an enterprise he had abandoned and declared doomed," OpenAI's legal team wrote in a Wednesday court filing. "He made it his project to take down OpenAI, and to build a direct competitor that would seize the technological lead — not for humanity but for Elon Musk."

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The filing claims Musk weaponized everything in his arsenal — from his massive social media following to legal threats — to kneecap the company once it became clear he couldn't control it.

"The ensuing campaign has been relentless," the filing added. "Through press attacks, malicious campaigns broadcast to Musk's more than 200 million followers on the social media platform he controls, a pretextual demand for corporate records, harassing legal claims, and a sham bid for OpenAI's assets, Musk has tried every tool available to harm OpenAI."

The legal battle began when Musk sued OpenAI in February 2024, alleging the company had strayed from its original nonprofit mission and formed a for-profit structure that favors Microsoft. Musk dropped the suit in June — only to refile it in August. On Wednesday, the judge scheduled a trial for next March.

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But OpenAI isn't just playing defense. On the same day as the filing, the company posted a series of sharp jabs at Musk on X. 

"Elon's nonstop actions against us are just bad-faith tactics to slow down OpenAI and seize control of the leading AI innovations for his personal benefit," the company posted.

Elon's nonstop actions against us are just bad-faith tactics to slow down OpenAI and seize control of the leading AI innovations for his personal benefit. Today, we counter-sued to stop him.

— OpenAI Newsroom (@OpenAINewsroom) April 9, 2025

"Elon's never been about the mission. He's always had his own agenda. He tried to seize control of OpenAI and merge it with Tesla as a for-profit — his own emails prove it. When he didn't get his way, he stormed off."

The post continued, "Elon is undoubtedly one of the greatest entrepreneurs of our time. But these antics are just history on repeat – Elon being all about Elon."

Musk's Early Role — and Abrupt Exit

Musk co-founded OpenAI in 2015 alongside Sam Altman and others, helping launch the nonprofit with a vision of building artificial intelligence that benefits all of humanity. He pledged $1 billion in support, though OpenAI later said he only contributed a fraction of that before stepping away.

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By 2018, tensions were rising. Musk reportedly proposed taking over the company and folding it into Tesla TSLA — a move that other board members rejected. Musk left the board shortly after.

At the time, Musk publicly said he walked away to avoid a conflict of interest with Tesla's own AI work and because he "didn't agree with some of what the OpenAI team wanted to do." He didn't elaborate on what those differences were, but former employees have hinted that the disagreements ran deep.

Altman, for his part, has rarely spoken publicly about the split — until now.

Wednesday's court filing paints Musk as someone who believed OpenAI was doomed without his leadership. But when the company went on to create the most widely-used AI product in history — ChatGPT — it says Musk couldn't stand being left behind.

Now, Musk is backing xAI, his own AI startup launched in 2023, which he claims will build a safer, more transparent artificial intelligence model. Its first product, Grok, is integrated into X.

See Also: Elon Musk Told The U.N. If They Could Show A Plan For Ending World Hunger He'd Donate $6 Billion – ‘I Will Sell Tesla Stock Right Now And Do It'

The Bigger Battle Over AI's Future

While the courtroom fireworks keep flying, this fight goes beyond just bruised egos. At the heart of Musk's lawsuit is a claim that OpenAI's for-profit pivot violates the company's founding agreement and undermines its mission to serve humanity.

But OpenAI insists that Musk knew about — and even supported — the pivot, right up until he didn't get his way.

Now, OpenAI is asking the court to toss Musk's claims entirely.

With a trial date set, the world's biggest names in AI look ready for a long, ugly fight — one that could shape the future of artificial intelligence, and who gets to control it.

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