Elon Musk's lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft has been supported by the US Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
The regulators have agreed with some of Musk's arguments, arguing that the activities of both companies could violate antitrust laws, particularly because of conflicts of interest among board members.
Musk claims that there is a conflict of interest between OpenAI and Microsoft. According to him, LinkedIn co-founder Reed Hoffman served on the boards of both companies from 2017 to 2023. In addition, Deanna Templeton, who was a Microsoft executive, was on the OpenAI board from December 2023 to July 2024. Musk is seeking an injunction against OpenAI's conversion into a commercial company, arguing that this decision poses antitrust risks.
The FTC and the Justice Department have said that ending such practices does not relieve companies of their responsibility to provide evidence that such practices will not occur in the future. However, the regulators have not yet issued a final ruling on the legality of OpenAI’s conversion to a for-profit company.
A hearing in the case is scheduled for Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in Oakland, California. OpenAI declined to comment on the matter, but has previously said that Hoffman and Templeton’s participation on the board was not illegal.
