Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg wants to put the kibosh on Sam Altman-led OpenAI’s push to drop its nonprofit status — a move that puts the tech titan on the same side as longtime rival Elon Musk.
The parent company of Facebook and Instagram warned that allowing ChatGPT’s creator’s planned transition to a for-profit structure would have “seismic implications for Silicon Valley,” according to a letter sent to California Attorney General Rob Bonta.
“OpenAI should not be allowed to break the law by taking and re-appropriating the assets it has built as a charity and using them for potentially huge private gain,” Meta wrote in the letter, which was dated last Thursday and was first reported by seen by Wall Street. Diary.
Earlier this month, Musk and former OpenAI board member Shivon Zilis asked a federal judge in San Francisco to block the pioneering AI firm from becoming profitable.
His lawyers compared OpenAI to a “Frankenstein, put together by whatever corporate form serves the monetary interests of Microsoft and Altman at any given moment.”
The filing of the injunction was an escalation in Musk’s lawsuit against OpenAI — which he co-founded in 2015 but later turned against after clashing with Altman. Musk has since launched his own artificial intelligence startup, xAI.
Meta sided with Musk in his letter to Bonta, despite Zuckerberg and Musk trading barbs publicly and privately for years — and nearly facing off in a cage match last year.
“Although we would also urge your office to take direct action, we believe that Mr. Musk and Ms. “Zilis are qualified and well-positioned to represent the interests of Californians in this matter,” the letter states.
Bonta’s office and OpenAI did not immediately return requests for comment on Meta’s letter.
OpenAI, which has been led by a non-profit board since 2015, is planning to restructure as a for-profit public benefit corporation. The non-profit arm of the firm would continue to exist, but would no longer be in control.
Altman’s firm countered the injunction request last week, releasing a series of emails and texts as it argued that Musk initially supported for-profit status for OpenAI — but backed out after losing an attempt to secure full control and a majority stake.
Last week, Altman claimed he’s “not that worried” about Musk’s influence over President-elect Trump’s administration.
Musk has emerged as a key adviser to Trump and is set to co-head the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which is tasked with eliminating government waste.
“It would be profoundly un-American to use political power, on the scale that Elon has, to harm competitors and benefit your own businesses,” Altman told a New York Times briefing. “And I don’t think people would tolerate that. I don’t think Elon would do that.”
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