OpenAI countersues Elon Musk, claims his 97.4 billion takeover offer was a sham bid

OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman have counter-sued its co-founder turned competitor Elon Musk, accusing the billionaire of unfair and fraudulent business practices. Specifically, ChatGPT's owners claim that Musk's 97.375 billion offer to buy it out in February was a "sham bid" deliberately intended to impede OpenAI's efforts to raise funding. "Through press attacks, malicious campaigns broadcast to Musk's more than 200 million followers on the social media platform he controls [X], a pretextual demand for corporate records, harassing legal claims, and a sham bid for OpenAI's assets, Musk has tried every tool available to harm OpenAI," read the lawsuit. Filed to a California district court on Wednesday, OpenAI's countersuit alleges that Musk's offer to purchase the AI organisation for 97.375 billion was not genuine, and was in fact orchestrated to gain an unfair business advantage. Though Musk was one of OpenAI's founders, he has since left and founded competitor xAI.