Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk expanded his lawsuit against ChatGPT maker OpenAI, adding federal antitrust and other claims and adding OpenAI's largest financial backer Microsoft (MSFT.O) as a defendant.
“Never before has a corporation gone from tax-exempt charity to a $157 billion for-profit, market-paralyzing gorgon — and in just eight years,” the complaint said. It seeks to void OpenAI's license with Microsoft and force them to divest “ill-gotten” gains.
OpenAI in a statement said the latest lawsuit "is even more baseless and overreaching than the previous ones."
Microsoft and lawyers for Musk did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Musk has a long-simmering opposition to OpenAI, a startup he co-founded and that has since become the face of generative AI through billions of dollars in funding from Microsoft.
Musk has gained new prominence as a key force in U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's incoming administration. Trump named Musk to a new role designed to cut government waste, after he donated millions of dollars to Trump's Republican campaign.
The expanded lawsuit said OpenAI and Microsoft violated antitrust law by conditioning investment opportunities on agreements not to deal with the companies’ rivals. It said the companies' exclusive licensing agreement amounted to a merger lacking regulatory approvals.
