OpenAI defends its shift to a for-profit model, citing funding needs and mission alignment, as Musk’s lawsuit threatens its future ahead of a 2026 trial.

Musk, an early OpenAI investor who now runs his own AI firm, xAI, along with Tesla, SpaceX, social media platform X and President Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency, began a legal offensive against OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman more than a year ago.

Musk could not tolerate seeing such success for an enterprise he had abandoned and declared doomed,” read a suit by OpenAI co-founder Sam Altman.