Elon Musk's bid for OpenAI harassment claim denied in court

A long-running feud between Elon Musk and Sam Altman spilled out again.

A federal judge on Tuesday, August 12, 2025, denied Elon Musk's bid to dismiss OpenAI's claims of a "years-long harassment campaign" by Musk himself against the company, he co-founded in 2015 and later abandoned before ChatGPT became a global phenomenon.

According to Reuters, the ruling is the latest twist in a court fight that has played out since last year, when Musk accused OpenAI of abandoning its founding purpose as a charity by accepting billions of dollars in funding from Microsoft Corp. starting in 2019, the year after he left OpenAI's board.

In the latest turn in a year-long harassment claim court battle kicked off last year, U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers ruled that Musk must face OpenAI's claims that the billionaire, through press statements, social media posts, legal claims and "a sham bid for OpenAI's assets" had attempted to harm the AI startup.

Moreover, Musk sued OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman last year over the company's transition to a for-profit model, accusing the company of straying from its founding mission of developing AI for the good of humanity, not profit.

OpenAI countersued Musk in April, accusing the billionaire of engaging in fraudulent business practices under California law. Musk then asked for OpenAI's counterclaims to be dismissed or delayed until a later stage in the case.

Additionally, OpenAI argued in May its countersuit should not be put on hold, and the judge on Tuesday concluded that the company's allegations were legally sufficient to proceed.

Furthermore, in a recent development of the year-long case, a jury trial has been scheduled for spring 2026.