According to a report in the Financial Times, lawyers for Musk have contacted attorneys-general in Delaware and California to demand that a large stake in OpenAI be sold off in an open auction process.

Suchir Balaji was found dead in his San Francisco apartment, with police ruling it a suicide. Balaji had criticized OpenAI’s copyright practices and expressed skepticism about the ’fair use’ defense for generative AI.

In his letter, Musk’s lawyer pushed the attorneys general to allow outside investors to bid for the nonprofit’s stake in OpenAI. If successful, that could allow an outside investor to take a significant position in, and to exercise control over, the start-up.