Elon Musk accuses OpenAI of ‘stealing a charity,’ calls it ‘built on a lie’

Elon Musk has reignited his feud with OpenAI, accusing the company he co-founded of betraying its founding mission and profiting from what was meant to be a non-profit venture.

Taking to X (formerly Twitter), the Tesla and SpaceX CEO retweeted a post from former OpenAI board member Helen Toner, which criticised the organization’s lack of transparency.

Musk replied: “OpenAI is built on a lie. They stole a charity and used it for their own financial gain.”

Musk’s remarks come shortly after OpenAI celebrated the first anniversary of its viral text-to-video tool, Sora, which recently became the company’s fastest-growing product ever.

Musk helped launch OpenAI in 2015 alongside Sam Altman with the mission of developing safe, open-source artificial intelligence to benefit humanity.

However, after departing the board in 2018, Musk has repeatedly accused OpenAI of abandoning that goal, particularly after it adopted a capped-profit model and formed a partnership with Microsoft.

In 2024, Musk sued OpenAI and Altman, alleging the company had violated its non-profit commitments. 

A jury trial is scheduled for March 2026, where both sides will argue whether OpenAI’s transformation breached its founding agreement.

OpenAI has denied all allegations, calling Musk’s claims “unfounded” and suggesting they are meant to hinder its progress.