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In a surprising move, Elon Musk has requested a California court to withdraw his lawsuit against OpenAI and its CEO, Sam Altman. The legal case, filed in late February, accused OpenAI of deviating from its original mission to develop artificial intelligence (AI) for the benefit of humanity.

Musk’s lawyers submitted the filing to dismiss the months-old case without providing a reason for the decision. The dismissal was requested “without prejudice,” allowing Musk the option to potentially reopen the case in the future. This request came just one day before the court was set to hear OpenAI’s request to dismiss the case.

Musk, who co-founded OpenAI in 2015, claimed the organization had shifted its focus from altruistic goals to profit-making ventures. OpenAI responded by stating that Musk had previously supported the idea of a for-profit structure and had even suggested a merger with his electric car company, Tesla.

The dispute between Musk and OpenAI escalated earlier this week following Apple’s announcement of a partnership with OpenAI to integrate the ChatGPT chatbot into its Siri voice assistant and operating systems. Musk criticized the collaboration on his social media platform, X (formerly known as Twitter), suggesting that Apple was compromising user data security. “Apple has no clue what’s actually going on once they hand your data over to OpenAI. They’re selling you down the river,” Musk posted on X.

Despite Musk’s criticisms, investors responded positively to the news, with Apple’s stock market value reaching a record high of over $3 trillion.

In July 2023, Musk launched his own AI company, xAI, with the goal of “understanding reality.” By November, xAI had introduced Grok, a chatbot designed to compete with ChatGPT, featuring a touch of humor.

The developments in Musk’s legal battles and AI ventures continue to draw significant attention as the tech industry watches closely.