Altman Faces Test Ahead of OpenAI IPO as Musk’s $134 Billion Suit Adds Pressure

Musk lawsuit heightens legal risk

Concerns mount over slowing ChatGPT growth

WSJ says Altman risks becoming a symbol of AI uncertainty

Sam Altman, chief executive officer of ChatGPT developer OpenAI, is facing a leadership test ahead of the company’s planned initial public offering, the Wall Street Journal reported on May 3. Elon Musk’s roughly $134 billion lawsuit and concerns about slowing performance are colliding at a critical moment.

The Journal reported that Altman had been scheduled to attend a partnership event with Amazon Web Services, the world’s largest cloud provider, in late April. He did not make the appearance because he had to attend a court hearing in the lawsuit Musk filed against OpenAI, Altman and others.

In a prerecorded video shown in his place, Altman said, “I wish I could be with you today, but something happened that took control of my schedule away from me.”

The episode illustrates Altman’s current predicament, the Journal said. As OpenAI pursues a listing this year, expanding legal risks are raising questions about whether he can lead the company steadily through the process.

Questions are also building around OpenAI’s operating performance. Rival Anthropic has been rapidly gaining market share with enterprise AI services, including coding tools. OpenAI, by contrast, missed its annual revenue target last year and failed to reach 1 billion weekly active users, a setback that has unsettled investor sentiment, according to the Journal.

OpenAI’s valuation has climbed to $805.2 billion ahead of the IPO. But concern is growing that Altman may not deliver results strong enough to justify that price tag, adding pressure to the listing plan.

The Journal compared Altman’s predicament with Musk’s past near-ouster at Tesla before his dramatic comeback. Musk calmed investor concerns with electric-vehicle sales and SpaceX’s reusable rocket advances. Altman, however, has yet to produce similarly visible achievements, the newspaper said.

Altman co-founded OpenAI in 2015 with Musk and other Silicon Valley figures as a nonprofit. He later led its shift to a for-profit structure in 2019, attracting large investments from Microsoft and others and helping lay the foundation for ChatGPT’s development.

Musk left OpenAI in 2018 after disagreements with Altman’s side. He claims OpenAI broke its promise to remain a nonprofit and expanded improperly, causing him harm.

In the lawsuit, Musk is seeking Altman’s removal from OpenAI and demanding that $134 billion in profits be returned to the nonprofit foundation.

If Altman fails to build on his earlier success, the Journal said, he risks becoming a symbol of the AI industry’s uncertainty: a technology that is startling, but still short on credibility.

Hong Min-seong, Hankyung.com reporter mshong@hankyung.com