OpenAI is currently embroiled in a lawsuit initiated by Elon Musk, who has requested evidence regarding alleged coordinated plans between Meta, xAI, and OpenAI for a potential acquisition or investment. The moves feed into Musk’s ongoing legal war against OpenAI, the parent company of the firm ChatGPT —of which Musk himself is a huge fan—was launched from. The request from Musk’s legal team has recently gained public attention following the release of a brief filed in court.
In the filing, Musk’s lawyers have sought to clarify the extent of Meta’s involvement in the acquisition discussions. Andy Stone, a spokesperson for Meta, declined to comment on the specifics of this story. He directed TechCrunch to a specific section of OpenAI’s own filing, which clarifies that neither Meta nor its CEO Mark Zuckerberg signed Musk’s letter of intent to acquire OpenAI. This statement is pretty big, because this means that Musk’s acquisition bid was actually rebuffed by OpenAI.
The legal drama lays bare the fraught ties that still bind the two companies. Even with mounting pressure from the other side that came directly from Musk, OpenAI has held strong against the acquisition. The still-unfolding lawsuit places even more fire to a highly competitive and litigious race among artificial intelligence developers.
Maxwell Zeff is a senior AI-focused reporter at TechCrunch. He’s contributed to prolific national outlets such as Gizmodo, Bloomberg, and MSNBC, and now he’s writing about these thrilling recent developments. Zeff has reported extensively on the rise of AI technology and its implications, including the recent turmoil surrounding the Silicon Valley Bank crisis. Home based in San Francisco, he’s made it his mission to keep taking more swings at this fast-changing story.
The sequence of events is extremely important. TechCrunch is already making arrangements for our next Disrupt event in San Francisco, scheduled for October 27-29, 2025. The collision of AI innovation and legal battle in this space is captivating the world. The media and constituents alike are eager about this fast-approaching development.