rewrite this title OpenAI lawyers question Meta’s role in Elon Musk’s $97B takeover bid  | TechCrunch

OpenAI is asking Meta to produce evidence related to any coordinated plans with Elon Musk and xAI to acquire or invest in the ChatGPT-maker.

The request was made public in a brief filed Thursday in Elon Musk’s ongoing lawsuit against OpenAI. Lawyers representing OpenAI said they subpoenaed Meta in June for documents related to its potential involvement in Musk’s unsolicited, $97 billion bid to takeover the startup in February. It’s unclear from the filing whether such evidence exists. OpenAI ultimately denied Musk’s bid.

OpenAI’s lawyers say they discovered that Musk communicated with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg concerning xAI’s bid to purchase the ChatGPT-maker, including “about potential financing arrangements or investments.”

Meta objected to OpenAI’s initial subpoena in July; the ChatGPT-maker’s lawyers are now seeking a court order to obtain such evidence. OpenAI is also asking the court for any of Meta’s documents and communications related to “any actual or potential restructuring or recapitalization of OpenAI” — the core issue in Musk’s lawsuit against OpenAI.

Meta spokesperson Andy Stone directed TechCrunch towards a section of OpenAI’s filing which states that neither Meta nor Zuckerberg signed Musk’s letter of intent to acquire the ChatGPT-maker. Meta declined to comment further.

In the background of OpenAI’s fight with Elon Musk, Meta has significantly invested in its own efforts to develop frontier AI models. That effort has included poaching several of OpenAI’s leading AI researchers, including a co-creator of ChatGPT, Shengjia Zhao, who now leads research efforts at Meta Superintelligence Labs, the company’s newest AI unit. Meta also invested $14 billion in Scale AI, and reportedly approached several other AI labs about acquisition deals.

Lawyers representing Meta asked the court to reject OpenAI’s request for evidence, arguing that Musk and xAI can provide any relevant information. Meta also argues that its internal discussions of OpenAI’s restructuring and recapitalization are not relevant to the case.

This is a developing story… Check back for updates.