Musk calls for Altman and Brockman to be removed in the case against OpenAI.

In a new court filing, Elon Musk seeks tough remedies - including replacing OpenAI leadership and returning the company to non-profit status

Elon Musk’s requested remedies against OpenAI, Sam Altman and Greg Brockman

Elon Musk is asking for OpenAI’s Chief Executive Officer, Sam Altman, and the company’s President, Greg Brockman, to be removed from their roles as part of litigation due to go to trial later this month. In a court submission filed on Tuesday, Musk’s legal team set out the specific actions their client wants the court to order if the judge and jury conclude that Altman and OpenAI deceived Musk.

Among the remedies, Musk is also seeking an order requiring OpenAI to operate once again as a non-profit organisation. OpenAI completed a restructuring last October and is now run as a non-profit body that holds a 26% stake in a commercial arm, which includes ChatGPT.

Musk’s lawyers argue that this sort of intervention is standard where a charity’s leadership has failed to uphold its public purpose. “Removing the officers and directors of a charitable organisation is a common remedy where those individuals fail to carry out or protect the organisation’s public mission,” the filing states.

How the OpenAI lawsuit began

Musk sued Altman and OpenAI in 2024, alleging that the organisation he helped establish almost a decade ago “deliberately manipulated and misled” him into donating $38 million, relying on assurances that the entity would remain non-profit. Since that claim was filed, the dispute has played out not only in court but also in public exchanges, alongside an intensifying business rivalry.

OpenAI was founded as a non-profit AI laboratory in 2015 by Musk, Altman and others. Musk left OpenAI in 2018 after attempting to persuade its leadership to merge the organisation with Tesla, his electric-vehicle company.

In 2023, Musk launched a rival firm, xAI, which went on to build an image generator and the Grok chatbot. In February of the same year, SpaceX acquired xAI - which also owns X (formerly Twitter) - in a deal valued at $1.25 trillion.

Trial schedule and the public back-and-forth

Jury selection in the case is scheduled for 27 April at the federal court in Oakland, California.

After Tuesday’s filing, OpenAI posted on X, saying that “Musk is pretending he is changing his position on his attacks on the OpenAI Foundation non-profit. In reality, this case has always been about Elon getting more power and money for his own aims. His lawsuit remains nothing more than a harassment campaign driven by ego, envy, and a desire to slow down a competitor.”

OpenAI urges regulators to investigate Musk; damages claims continue

On Monday, OpenAI sent a letter to the Attorneys General of California and Delaware, urging them to “investigate misconduct and anti-competitive behaviour by Musk and his associates ahead of trial”. In the letter, OpenAI’s Head of Strategy, Jason Kwon, alleges that “Musk is working to undermine OpenAI through various attacks on the company, including co-ordinating his efforts with Meta* CEO Mark Zuckerberg.”

In January, Musk’s lawyers said their client should receive up to $134 billion in compensation from OpenAI and its main investor, Microsoft, describing this as “illegal profits the companies gained thanks to his work and financial support of OpenAI”. In a 7 April filing, Musk’s attorneys stated that “their client is seeking the return of all unlawfully obtained revenues, including Microsoft’s revenues, to the OpenAI charitable organisation”.

* Meta (Facebook and Instagram) is designated as extremist in Russia and is banned there.