OpenAI asks California, Delaware to investigate Musk's 'anti-competitive behavior' ahead of April trial

In this article META Follow your favorite stocks CREATE FREE ACCOUNT Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI and Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla. Reuters OpenAI on Monday sent a letter to the California and Delaware attorneys general, urging them to investigate "improper and anti-competitive behavior" by Elon Musk and his associates, as a high-profile trial nears between the two sides. In the letter, OpenAI strategy chief Jason Kwon alleged that Musk has been working to undermine OpenAI through various "attacks" on the company, including by "coordinating his efforts" with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg . Musk and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman co-founded the artificial intelligence lab in 2015 as a nonprofit, alongside several other researchers and executives. Musk left OpenAI in 2018, after trying to convince executives to merge it with Tesla . He later launched a competing company, xAI, and sued OpenAI in 2024, alleging that he was "assiduously manipulated" and "deceived" after the AI company explored converting to a for-profit entity. Jury selection for the trial is slated to begin on April 27, in the Northern District of California. Read more CNBC tech news AI data center boom 'stress tests' insurers as private capital floods in OpenAI's Fidji Simo takes medical leave, announces leadership changes 'Chasing vibes' — OpenAI's M&A strategy gets more confusing with TBPN purchase Meta, Google under fire as court cases bypass 30-year-old legal shield Kwon said in the letter that Musk's behavior could inhibit OpenAI's efforts to bring about artificial general intelligence, or AGI, a broad term for an AI system that rivals or exceeds 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. OpenAI has previously expressed related con...