The world's leading and one of the largest artificial intelligence company OpenAI, headed by Sam Altman, has countersued Tesla chief and X owner Elon Musk for waging a "relentless campaign" to damage the organisation. 

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The company on Wednesday (April 9) filed legal documents in a federal court in northern California, which is heading to a jury trial next year.

In the filing, OpenAI has claimed, "Musk could not tolerate seeing such success for an enterprise he had abandoned and declared doomed," reported the news agency AFP.

The company further alleges, Musk "made it his project to take down OpenAI, and to build a direct competitor that would seize the technological lead -- not for humanity but for Elon Musk."

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The lawsuit comes after the world's richest man, Elon Musk sued OpenAI last year, accusing the company of betraying its founding mission. 

Musk - Altman Feud

Musk and Altman were allies and cofounders of OpenAI, established in December 2015, but they parted ways over the management of the company, which produces ChatGPT. Musk went on to set up his own AI firm, xAI in 2023 and invest tens of billions of dollars to compete with major AI players, including OpenAI. 

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Over a year ago, the Tesla chief  began a legal offensive against OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman for breach of contract over what he claims was the betrayal of its founding aims as a nonprofit research laboratory.

Musk in his 2024 lawsuit alleges that he was originally approached to create a nonprofit AI company, and OpenAI's move to a for-profit structure was a breach of the terms and conditions they agreed upon.

However, the filing by OpenAI alleges that in 2018 its leadership refused "to bow to Musk's demands for control of the enterprise or, alternatively, its absorption into Musk's electric car company, Tesla," due to which Musk quit the company.

OpenAI also claims that the billionaire did not fulfill his financial commitment of delivering $1 billion to the organisation, reported the news agency.