Ex-OpenAI employees come out in support of Elon Musk — Here's why

Elon Musk has recently secured a small win in his ongoing legal battle with OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT. A day after OpenAI filed a lawsuit accusing Musk of harassment, a group of former employees from the AI startup has come out in support of Musk, aligning themselves with his fight against OpenAI's decision to reorganize as a for-profit entity.

A court filing obtained by Bloomberg reveals that a dozen ex-OpenAI employees—data scientists and technicians who worked at the company between 2018 and 2024—are challenging the artificial intelligence startup's move to restructure. The employees argue that transforming OpenAI into a for-profit company, reducing the influence of its nonprofit arm, would violate the organization's original mission.

"If the OpenAI nonprofit agreed to a change in the OpenAI corporate structure which took away its controlling role, that would fundamentally violate its mission," the former employees argued in the filing. This group is being represented by Lawrence Lessig, a renowned Harvard law professor and political activist.

This filing marks the latest chapter in the ongoing dispute between Elon Musk, the world’s wealthiest individual, and OpenAI, one of the most highly valued AI startups in the world. Musk, who was involved in OpenAI’s founding in 2015, left the company’s board in 2018. Since then, Musk has raised concerns over OpenAI's shift away from its initial mission as a non-profit organization after receiving significant investments, particularly from Microsoft Corp., which began funding the company in 2019.

Musk's dissatisfaction with the company’s direction led to the creation of his own AI venture, xAI, in 2023. Musk’s legal challenge against OpenAI centers on allegations that CEO Sam Altman deviated from the original charitable mission of OpenAI when the company accepted billions in investment, shifting towards a more commercialized model.

OpenAI, on its part, has defended its restructuring plans, claiming that the new model would still align with the company’s charitable goals. The startup asserts that the nonprofit arm would retain a substantial stake in the new for-profit entity, which would operate as a Public Benefit Corporation (PBC), a structure designed to balance the needs of both shareholders and the public. OpenAI insists that this transition is necessary to attract significant investment and ensure that its mission can continue to be funded.

In a statement, OpenAI emphasized that the nonprofit component would remain intact and that the mission of the company would remain unchanged. “Our board has been very clear: our nonprofit isn’t going anywhere and our mission will remain the same. We’re turning our existing for-profit arm into a Public Benefit Corporation—the same structure as other AI labs like Anthropic, where some of these former employees now work—and xAI,” the company stated.

However, the filing from the former employees underscores concerns regarding OpenAI’s 2018 charter, which states that the startup is not organized for the private gain of any person and is focused on ensuring the safe and ethical use of AI. Some of the former employees have previously voiced concerns about how OpenAI might balance the safety of its AI technologies with the growing commercialization of its offerings.

Musk’s attorney, Marc Toberoff, commented that the filing by the former employees "confirms what we already knew." He suggested that Altman had used OpenAI's initial charitable mission to attract contributions from Musk and top talent, only to shift the focus to profit-making once substantial investments started pouring in.

As this legal drama continues, the timeline of the case is moving toward a jury trial scheduled for spring 2026. The federal judge presiding over the case, Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, recently denied Musk’s request to pause OpenAI's transition to a for-profit model. However, the judge has proposed an expedited trial to fast-track the dispute.

This legal battle between Musk and OpenAI is far from over, and the outcome may have significant implications for the future of AI companies that operate at the intersection of profit-making and public service. The continued support of former OpenAI employees for Musk's stance suggests that the issue of corporate structure and mission alignment remains a critical and contentious topic in the rapidly evolving world of artificial intelligence.