OpenAI Seeks Record of Meta’s Involvement in Musk’s $97B Bid to Acquire the ChatGPT Maker

What began as a bruising corporate feud between Elon Musk and OpenAI is now pulling Meta into the legal storm, as the ChatGPT-maker asks the court to force Mark Zuckerberg’s company to hand over documents linked to Musk’s attempted takeover.

In a court filing made public Thursday, OpenAI revealed that it subpoenaed Meta back in June for records that could shed light on whether Zuckerberg or his company coordinated with Musk and his AI startup, xAI, during Musk’s unsolicited $97 billion bid to buy OpenAI earlier this year. The filing states that OpenAI’s legal team had learned Musk communicated with Zuckerberg about xAI’s interest in purchasing the company, including “potential financing arrangements or investments.” It remains unclear whether any such documents exist, and OpenAI ultimately rejected Musk’s approach.

Meta objected to the initial subpoena in July, prompting OpenAI’s lawyers to now seek a court order that would compel Meta to turn over the evidence. In addition to documents on Musk’s takeover attempt, OpenAI also wants access to Meta’s communications on “any actual or potential restructuring or recapitalization of OpenAI” — an issue at the heart of Musk’s lawsuit against the company.

Responding to inquiries, Meta spokesperson Andy Stone pointed to a section of the filing where OpenAI itself acknowledges that neither Meta nor Zuckerberg signed Musk’s letter of intent to acquire the firm. Beyond that, Meta declined further comment.

This legal tug-of-war comes against the backdrop of intensifying rivalry between OpenAI and Meta. In 2023, Meta poured resources into building a frontier AI model capable of outperforming OpenAI’s GPT-4, filings in a separate case revealed. But by early 2025, Meta’s AI projects were lagging the industry standard — reportedly infuriating Zuckerberg, who has since doubled down.

That spending spree means a court-ordered disclosure could carry significant financial implications for Meta. If Zuckerberg’s discussions with Musk touched on potential joint ventures or financing, the documents could reveal how seriously Meta weighed investing in or even acquiring pieces of OpenAI at a time when it was already funneling vast sums into AI. Any evidence showing overlap between Meta’s hiring strategy and Musk’s xAI ambitions could also raise questions among investors about whether the social media giant was hedging its bets or considering partnerships in the escalating AI arms race.

In recent months, the Facebook parent has escalated efforts by raiding talent from OpenAI itself. Among the biggest hires was Shengjia Zhao, a co-creator of ChatGPT, who now leads Meta Superintelligence Labs. Meta has also invested heavily in outside ventures, including a $14 billion stake in Scale AI, and has reportedly held talks with other AI companies about potential acquisitions.

That backdrop makes any possible coordination between Musk and Zuckerberg even more intriguing. Less than two years ago, the two billionaires exchanged barbs about fighting in a physical cage match — a spectacle that never materialized. Yet, the escalating arms race in AI may have pushed them closer to pragmatic cooperation, at least on paper.

The briefing made public on Thursday forms part of Musk’s wider lawsuit with OpenAI. The Tesla and SpaceX chief, who co-founded OpenAI in 2015, is challenging its restructuring into a for-profit entity with a public-benefit arm — a shift designed to attract deep-pocketed investors and pave the way for a potential IPO. Musk contends the move betrayed OpenAI’s founding mission and is seeking to derail it.

Meta’s lawyers, however, want the court to shut down OpenAI’s request for evidence, arguing that Musk and xAI themselves are better placed to provide the information. They also claim Meta’s internal discussions about OpenAI’s restructuring or recapitalization are irrelevant to Musk’s case.