OpenAI just escalated its legal war with Elon Musk by subpoenaing Meta for evidence of secret coordination on Musk's $97 billion takeover bid. Court filings revealed Thursday show OpenAI lawyers discovered communications between Musk and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg about potential financing arrangements, forcing the AI industry's most powerful players into an unprecedented legal showdown.
OpenAI just threw a legal curveball that could reshape how we understand the power dynamics behind the AI industry's biggest deals. The ChatGPT-maker's lawyers revealed in Thursday court filings that they've been pursuing Meta for months, seeking evidence of potential coordination between Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk on the $97 billion takeover bid that sent shockwaves through Silicon Valley in February.
The subpoena, first issued in June, targets what OpenAI lawyers describe as communications between Musk and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg "concerning xAI's bid to purchase the ChatGPT-maker, including about potential financing arrangements or investments." The revelation suggests the February takeover attempt may have involved far more industry coordination than previously known.
Meta has been fighting the subpoena since July, with company lawyers arguing that Musk and xAI can provide any relevant information themselves. Meta spokesperson Andy Stone told TechCrunch that neither Meta nor Zuckerberg signed Musk's letter of intent to acquire OpenAI, but declined to comment further on the substance of any communications.
The legal maneuvering comes as Meta has been aggressively building its own AI empire, poaching key OpenAI talent and making massive investments in the space. The company recently hired Shengjia Zhao, a co-creator of ChatGPT, to lead its new Meta Superintelligence Labs division, while pumping $14 billion into Scale AI and reportedly approaching multiple AI labs about acquisition deals.
