The revised complaint, filed on Thursday, now names Microsoft as a defendant, along with LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman and Microsoft Vice President Dee Templeton, a former OpenAI board member.

Microsoft has invested $14 billion in OpenAI since 2019, securing exclusive rights to commercially license OpenAI’s technology and acquiring a 49% stake in its for-profit subsidiary. Musk’s legal team contends that former OpenAI CEO Sam Altman engaged in “rampant self-dealing,” effectively creating a “de facto merger” between OpenAI and Microsoft to facilitate anticompetitive practices.

The lawsuit alleges that OpenAI and Microsoft are actively working to eliminate competition by sharing sensitive information and pressuring investors to withhold funding from rival companies, including Musk’s AI venture, xAI. In the competitive AI market, OpenAI secured $6.6 billion in October to develop more advanced AI models, while xAI raised $6 billion in March to accelerate its technological advancements.

Additionally, xAI has been added as a plaintiff in the lawsuit, alongside former OpenAI board member Shivon Zilis, an executive at Musk’s Neuralink and mother of three of his children.

Musk co-founded OpenAI in 2015 with Sam Altman and Greg Brockman but departed in 2018. He previously filed a lawsuit against OpenAI in March, accusing the organization of straying from its mission to develop AI for the benefit of humanity and becoming a profit-driven entity under Microsoft’s influence. This lawsuit was withdrawn in June without explanation.

He has published a series of tweets taking aim at Open AI CEO Sam Altman.

Source: Twitter

In August, Musk revived the lawsuit with similar allegations. OpenAI has consistently sought to dismiss the claims, describing them as a “PR stunt” and an “increasingly blusterous.”